S. Korea says tuberculosis remains top infectious disease
SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's health authorities said Friday that tuberculosis (TB) has been the top infectious disease in the county for a decade.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said a total of 39,545 new cases of TB were reported last year, accounting for 43 percent of 91,136 cases of five major infectious diseases including TB. It means that 78.5 out of every 100,000 people were infected with TB last year.
Chickenpox, which causes a blister-like rash and itching, trailed behind tuberculosis with 27,763 cases last year, or 30.2 percent, according to the KCDC.
The other three infectious diseases are mumps, which causes fever and swelling of the glands in the neck; scrub typhus, which is caused by bacterial pathogen called orientia tsutsugamushi; and hepatitis B.
Last year, some 1,212 South Koreans were found to have multidrug-resistant TB that is difficult to treat as it is resistant to at least two powerful anti-TB drugs, according to the KCDC. Ordinary TB, which commonly affects the lungs, is curable and preventable.
Still, the KCDC said 2,364 South Koreans died of tuberculosis in 2011, the latest year for which government data is available.
It said tuberculosis has remained the top infectious disease in South Korea since 2000, except in 2009 and 2010 when the new flu emerged as the most infectious.
According to the World Health Organization, TB is second only to HIV/AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent. In 2011, 8.7 million people fell ill with and 1.4 million died from TB, the global health body said.
Source:
Yonhap News Agency
