More and more suspected cases of swine influenza are appearing in South Korea. Health authorities were examining another sixteen individuals Wednesday to see if they were infected with the strain. And with the confirmation of contagion between individuals in New York, health authorities are also taking steps toward preventing “secondary infection” by giving the antiviral drug Tamiflu to 48 individuals with a high probability of contact with individuals presumed to be infected.

The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs’ Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced Wednesday that they were examining sixteen of the twenty individuals who reported symptoms of acute respiratory disease such as fever and coughing following a visit to Mexico or the United States. The suspected individuals were isolated in their homes and given Tamiflu. They include a 52-year-old man and 29-year-old woman who had visited Mexico, and a 16-year-old young man, 27-year-old man and 15-month-old girl who had visited the U.S. The remaining four individuals tested negative, and their conditions were confirmed to be unrelated to swine influenza.

A 51-year-old female resident of Gyeonggi Province who was judged a “probable” infection case Tuesday was in improved condition, CDC Center for Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response head Jeon Byeong-yul said. In order to prevent “secondary infection” between individuals, the CDC delivered Tamiflu to eight people who were seated within two meters of the woman on the plane back from Mexico and to 40 more who interact with her regularly. Investigation was completed for 125 of the 338 people on board the plane, but none of them were suspected of being infected, it was announced.

With this spread in concerns about swine influenza, sanitary products are flying off the shelves at distributors. The Shinsegae E-mart reported Wednesday that sales of antibacterial hand soap and hand disinfectant for the three days from April 25 to 27 increased 35% from the same period the previous week. Sales of mouthwash and face masks also increased by 19% and 5%, respectively. Lotte Mart also reported sales increases of 11% for hand soap, 9% for mouthwash and 3% for face masks compared to the same period the previous week.

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