Swine flu strikes isolated North Korea

AP ^ | 12/09/09 | HYUNGJIN KIM

[TigerLikesRooster]

Swine flu strikes isolated North Korea

By HYUNGJIN KIM, Associated Press Writer - 1 hour 58 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea – Swine flu has struck isolated North Korea, the regime acknowledged Wednesday, although it was unclear whether there were any fatalities from the virus that has been circling the globe for months.

North Korea made its first acknowledgment of an H1N1 outbreak with a short dispatch in state media citing nine confirmed cases in northwestern Sinuiju on the Chinese border and in Pyongyang, the capital.

The official Korean Central News Agency reported that a quarantine system to prevent the spread of the disease was in place and that medical treatment was under way.

The KCNA report did not mention any virus-related deaths or say how the flu spread to North Korea, which maintains strict control over its citizens' movements and is selective about who can enter the country.

The World Health Organization, which has an office in Pyongyang, said in a statement later Wednesday that no deaths due to swine flu had yet been recorded in North Korea. WHO said nine North Koreans have been confirmed as having swine flu since Dec. 3, when a school child in Sinuiju tested positive for the virus.

The WHO statement also said that "active surveillance" was under way in North Korea to contain the virus's spread.

[TigerLikesRooster]

If this thing take off in N. Korea and creates panic among population, it could be a serious crisis. An accidental disaster (of non-political nature) getting out of control would be the most possible scenario for regime fall. N. Koreans are generally in pooer health, due to long-term food shortage and physical hardship. They could be more vulnerable to this kind of disease than those in other countries. Still, we don't know if it will go that far. It might just fade away without doing much damage.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[silverleaf]

I cannot imagine a more fragile population to deal with this, perhaps it is a more merciful death than starvation

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

Exactly what I was thinking....given the latest horrors Kim has brought on the poor victims of North Korea....dying from H1N1 may be a merciful escape from the coming new starvation there....

[Freddd]

So a few days after decimating their monetary system, and starting a new at a cost of 100 old dollars to buy 1 new dollar, up to a point, and then it takes 1,000 old dollars to buy 1 new dollar, closing all shops and grocery stores, and giving the order to shoot on site anyone trying to get into China, now a quarantine is declared? Uh huh...
No coverage of the monetary scandal, but sure are covering the swine flu part of it...

[gandalftb]

The upper headwaters of the Yalu River valley are very shallow and allow easy passage across the China-NK border, many hundreds cross every day. In winter it is all frozen over and lots of NK migrant workers choose this time of year to travel essentially unrestricted.

Just ask Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

So, the Swine Flu will be endemic in NK, they just bought 370,000 doses. Too little, too late in a weakened populace, they'll likely suffer some of the highest death rates in the world.

[rdl6989]

I cannot imagine a more fragile population to deal with this, perhaps it is a more merciful death than starvation

Agreed.