As the number of patients infected with the ‘parainfluenza virus’ similar to that of COVID-19 has recently increased in the province, the quarantine authorities are closely monitoring whether there will be an additional spread.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the 2nd, the number of domestic parainfluenza patients increased from 56 on September 12-18 to 515 on the 17th-23rd of last month. So far (as of the 3rd day), there have been 49 cases in Gyeongnam.
This parainfluenza epidemic has spread nationwide centered on the Yeongnam region since September 4, and most of the patients are children under the age of six. Parainfluenza, called the ‘summer cold’, is prevalent in April-August, but the increase in the number of patients after October, like this year, is unusual.
Parainfluenza is one of the types of acute respiratory infections and is a class 4 infectious disease spread through direct contact with secretions from infected people or through droplet contact. The main symptoms are mild fever, cough and runny nose.
Quarantine authorities believe that as social distancing is relaxed, the amount of movement increases and respiratory infections through person-to-person contact are on the rise again.
Ma Sang-hyuk, head of the Gyeongnam Provincial Medical Association’s Infectious Diseases Countermeasures Committee, said, “There was no respiratory virus epidemic last year, but if respiratory infections are prevalent in children as they are now, it is better to vaccinate against the flu.”
Source photo./Pixar Bay/
Reporter Park Joon-young bk6041@knnews.co.kr
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