A 43-year-old South Korean man who had made a trip to Brazil tested positive for Zika while a 67-year-old Bangladeshi man who had not gone overseas was confirmed to have acquired the virus.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said the man was on a business trip to Brazil from February 17 to March 9, and returned home via Germany on March 11, reported the Korea Times.
Health officials said the man, whose identity was withheld, visited the South American country’s state of Ceara, where cases of Zika had been earlier reported.
“He has no fever now and is recovering,” said Jung Ki-suck, head of the KCDC. “He does not need to be quarantined, but we are closely monitoring him as it is the first case in Korea.”
The man developed a rash and had muscle pains days after having a fever. A clinic in Gwangyang, South Joella Province where the man visited suspected that he could have been infected with the virus and immediately reported the case to the regional health authorities.
Officials confirmed the man had contracted the virus following a series of tests conducted at the South Jeolla Provincial Institute of Health and Environment, and at the National Research Institute of Health.
The likelihood of mosquito-bite infection in South Korea remains low since the country is not yet in the mosquito-active season.
“The fatality rate and likelihood of transmission are low and accordingly we have not raised our alert level for the virus,” Jung said. “However, we will create a task force for Zika virus infections and keep a 24-hour watch.”
In Bangladesh, blood samples taken from a resident in the southeastern port city of Chittagong confirmed he was positive for Zika, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
“The virus was found in the man as we tested old blood samples of nearly 1,000 people afflicted with fever in 2014 and 2015,” IEDCR director Mahmudur Rahman told Reuters, adding the man had not traveled outside the country.
The health ministry said no relatives of the man tested positive.
South Korea and Bangladesh are the latest Asian countries reporting new cases of Zika — linked to several deaths in Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela — as the region scrambles to implement measures against the virus.
An American woman who had spent four weeks earlier this year in the Philippines had been tested positive for Zika upon her return to the U.S., the Department of Health of the Philippines said.
In February, China confirmed at least five imported Zika cases, prompting health authorities to place the country on high alert.
There has been no vaccine against the Zika virus, which is usually transmitted through Aedes mosquito bites. Symptoms include muscle pains, headaches, vomiting and fever.
The virus can also be theoretically acquired through blood transfusions and possibly through sexual intercourse.
