Monkeypox comes to Korea in traveler from Germany

A medical worker enters a negative pressure quarantine ward at Incheon Medical Center in Incheon on Wednesday, where Korea's first monkeypox patient is hospitalized. [YONHAP]

Korea found its first case of monkeypox in a traveler who entered the country from Germany the previous day.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced Wednesday that it confirmed its first monkeypox patient after conducting a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and genetic sequencing.

The patient was a Korean national in their 30s who returned from Germany via Incheon International Airport at around 4 p.m. Tuesday. The patient had suspected symptoms of the monkeypox virus such as headache, mild fever, sore throat and skin lesions on arrival, and was immediately quarantined.

The patient was admitted to Incheon Medical Center in Incheon, and is receiving treatment.

Following the first confirmed case, the KDCA raised the alert level for monkeypox.

Another suspected patient, who was a foreigner who entered Korea on Monday, tested negative for the monkeypox virus but positive for chickenpox, the KDCA said.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]