Actress gets H1N1 in Rome, dies

Actress You Dong-sook, 37, died last Thursday from the H1N1 flu at a Seoul-area hospital after catching the virus at the Fifth International Rome Film Festival last month while promoting her low-budget film “My Heart Beats.”

You was given the leading role in the film directed by Huh Eun-hee and was invited to the extra competition session of the Rome festival.

You was a theater actress for most of her career.

She started feeling flu symptoms - body aches and respiratory difficulties - when she returned to Korea on Oct. 31. She was hospitalized Nov. 2 at the Korea University Anam Hospital, and died nine days later from complications due to H1N1.

“Influenza A, [H1N1], has a seasonal pattern, but we don’t expect a large number of patients this year,” said the Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday.

In June 2009, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic with the massive outbreak of new form of H1N1 after it spread in Mexico and the U.S.

In March 2010, the WHO said that 18,000 people had died from the virus. In August 2010, the WHO declared the pandemic over and said flu patterns had returned to normal.

By Yoo Sun-young [entaional@joongang.co.kr]