First Case of Brucellosis Reported

A Korean man has been infected, for the first time in Korea, with malicious bacteria called Brucella, which affects both men and animals.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) announced yesterday that a man in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, known by the last name Park, acquired the disease after drinking unsterilized milk from infected cow.

This is the first of its kind in Korea, although there is a record that Brucella was extracted from a Japanese living in Seoul and cultivated in 1939.

Humans can contract Brucellosis from direct contact with infected cows, pigs, dogs and other animals or their products, such as milk., but does not spread from person to person.

Brucellosis usually has 50 to 60 days of the incubation period, then results in headache, fever, chill and pain in the entire body. But the disease can be cured within six months after first confirmed.

Its lethality is less than 2% but if not properly treated, the symptoms can continue for years and even cause complications such as depression, meningitis and encephalitis.

To prevent infection, people should only consume milk products that are pasteurized, an NIH official stated.

Sang-Keun Song songmoon@donga.com