Scarlet Fever outbreak in N. Korea

[Soxy]

Link

 

Scary stuff, since this has been all but wiped out in the U.S. in the last 50 years.

 

Report: Scarlet fever spreads in N.Korea

 

Wed Nov 15, 6:43 AM ET

 

SEOUL, South Korea - Scarlet fever has been spreading in

North Korea and threatens to become a full-blown epidemic despite efforts by authorities to contain the disease, a news report said Wednesday.

 

The disease, which broke out in the North's northern Ryanggang Province last month, is rapidly spreading to other parts of the communist state, including the capital, Pyongyang,

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed sources.

 

South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said they didn't have information to confirm the media report.

 

Lack of medicine coupled with poor sanitary conditions are to blame for the rapid spread of the fever in the impoverished communist country, leading to the deaths among the aged and infants, Yonhap said.

 

Kwon Joon-wook, a South Korean

CDC official, said scarlet fever "could be easily treated with antibiotics but it could become a problem" in a country like North Korea, which suffers from a lack of medicine.

 

Scarlet fever is a rash typically seen in children younger than 18, caused by the same bacteria related to strep throat, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

The germs carrying scarlet fever are found in the mouth and nasal fluid, and it is spread by people sharing drinks or by someone with the infection touching another's mouth, eyes or nose.

[southsider2k5]

No big surprise there... They have had something like a million people die in the latest famine over there. Things which are deemed as "basic" goods and services in NK, are rarely accessible for the general public, including things like food and medicine. Its sad, but nothing is going to change while Il runs that country.

[southsideirish71]

As long as the insane dwarf who runs their country gets underage girls, and nuclear weapons all is well in the NK.

 

I wonder if the cure is somehow linked to plutonium or centrifuges. If so they are on the verge of a breakthrough.

[southsider2k5]

As long as the insane dwarf who runs their country gets underage girls, and nuclear weapons all is well in the NK.

 

I wonder if the cure is somehow linked to plutonium or centrifuges. If so they are on the verge of a breakthrough.

 

The only reason they tested that "bomb" was because China had cut their oil supply going into NK because they had been disobeying the Pulitboro in Bejing. They were desparate to get an infusion of cash, so they figured that this would get them another bribe to stop testing again.