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Anxiety about epidemic emerges in S.Korea after report of 1st Zika case

Source: Xinhua | March 22, 2016, Tuesday | Online Edition

Anxiety about a Zika epidemic emerged in South Korea on Tuesday as the first case of the mosquito-borne virus was reported in the country that has a trauma of an explosive spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015.

A 43-year-old man, who recently returned from Brazil, tested positive earlier in the day for the infectious disease, becoming the first South Korean patient diagnosed with the Zika virus.

The report caused fears and anxieties among South Koreans who were traumatized by the MERS outbreak last year.

The MERS corona virus had infected 186 South Koreans since it was first found on May 20. South Korea became the most MERS-contagious country outside the Middle East, with a combined death toll of 36.

Unlike the MERS virus, Zika is known not to be spread by physical contacts between humans, but many South Koreans still remember the initial bungling of the government responses resulting in the explosive contagion of the MERS.

One netizen said in his Twitter account that he was terrified by the first Zika case as it can spread rapidly as seen in the MERS case last year. Another netizen said he cannot believe the report of a Zika infectee in South Korea.

In South Korea's most-used search engine Naver, one netizen urged the South Korean government to make an initial response to the virus better than it did last year to prevent the spread.

Some expressed worry about the safety of South Korean athletes and spectators who will visit Brazil in August for the Olympic Games. Netizens worried that the summer sports event may become a gate to South Korea's import of the Zika virus.

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