Epidemics
In the status quo, Korea is in 'chaos' because of the break out of the African Swine Fever (아프리카 돼지 열병).
To be honest, I wasn't that interested in the newly issued disease. I'm not a big fan of searching the news, except for searching the scores of that day's baseball game. Moreover, I did not enjoy 삼겹살 that much either, so the clickbait that Facebook was giving me (Koreans may not be able to eat 삼겹살 for 30 years!) didn't catch much of my attention. However, after a few days, the first African Swine Fever symptoms were discovered, I decided to find out what was going on in Korea for a change.
To those who aren't familiar with the African Swine Fever, it is a viral hemorrhaging pig epidemic, usually transmitted directly by the secretions of infected pigs, etc. It is only infected with animals belonging to the pig family, and once it occurs, it causes tremendous damage to the pig industry, as the fatality rate reaches nearly 100 percent if infected with the highly pathogenic virus.
As you can see in the picture, the African Swine Fever is quite thriving in Korea. Would Facebook's clickbait become true? Should we restrain ourselves from eating 삼겹살, one of the most beloved foods among Koreans? When searching, I believe the answer is NO. It is said that the disease is not transmitted to humans and that there is no problem with eating pork. "There have been no reports of human infection of swine fever in Africa," said Kim Woo-Joo, an infectious medicine professor at the 'Ancient' Guro Hospital (김우주 고대구로병원 감염내과 교수). "But as usual, pork is recommended to be fully cooked and eaten."
However, if the government fails to respond to the disease in the early stages, related industries are in a state of emergency as the price of pork is expected to soar, while supply and demand problems are expected.
To be honest, I wasn't that interested in the newly issued disease. I'm not a big fan of searching the news, except for searching the scores of that day's baseball game. Moreover, I did not enjoy 삼겹살 that much either, so the clickbait that Facebook was giving me (Koreans may not be able to eat 삼겹살 for 30 years!) didn't catch much of my attention. However, after a few days, the first African Swine Fever symptoms were discovered, I decided to find out what was going on in Korea for a change.
To those who aren't familiar with the African Swine Fever, it is a viral hemorrhaging pig epidemic, usually transmitted directly by the secretions of infected pigs, etc. It is only infected with animals belonging to the pig family, and once it occurs, it causes tremendous damage to the pig industry, as the fatality rate reaches nearly 100 percent if infected with the highly pathogenic virus.
As you can see in the picture, the African Swine Fever is quite thriving in Korea. Would Facebook's clickbait become true? Should we restrain ourselves from eating 삼겹살, one of the most beloved foods among Koreans? When searching, I believe the answer is NO. It is said that the disease is not transmitted to humans and that there is no problem with eating pork. "There have been no reports of human infection of swine fever in Africa," said Kim Woo-Joo, an infectious medicine professor at the 'Ancient' Guro Hospital (김우주 고대구로병원 감염내과 교수). "But as usual, pork is recommended to be fully cooked and eaten."
However, if the government fails to respond to the disease in the early stages, related industries are in a state of emergency as the price of pork is expected to soar, while supply and demand problems are expected.
Sounds like the African Swine Fever may not be as harmful to humans as we expect. Relieved that it is still safe for people to eat pork, but meanwhile feeling bad for the pigs which are going through a bloody massacre and the owners of the pigs, who need the pigs for money and food, my thoughts turned to other epidemics that once turned Korea or even the world upside down.
The first epidemic I thought of was the Ebola virus. Its influence did not reach Korea, but the impact and shock it gave to the world are not needed to be said. Since Korea was out of Ebola's grasp, I was only able to look at pictures of the patients. It was the first time I felt horrified by a disease. Thank God for blocking Ebola's advance towards Korea. The Ebola virus was the virus that gave me a clear view of how the Black Plague symptoms must have looked like and remains as one of my most feared epidemics.
The second epidemic has also broken out in Korea; MERS, or the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. As its name infers, it gives problems to the respiratory system, and as many of you may know, many schools and academies closed their doors for some time until the MERS 'situation' was slowing down. If my memory is correct, MERS was quite a fright at first, but the dread shrunk after some time. Many people were getting cured, and comparing it with the Ebola virus, MERS looked just like a baby. (No offense to the people who have been killed by MERS. I am truly sad for their misfortune.)
More epidemics that happened in the world or Korea, such as the 신종플루. Whenever epidemics burst out, I ruminate the predictions some scientists have made; that humans would be wiped out into extinction by diseases. When looking at the damage the Ebola virus has caused, even in these 'high-in-medical technology' times, it is fully possible.
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