Zika Virus: First Case Confirmed in South Korea

The first case of the Zika virus infection has been confirmed in South Korea.

The patient is a man who had recently returned from Brazil.

According to the Korea’s Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the 43-year-old was diagnosed on March 22 and was being treated in Gwangju city.

Zika, a mosquito-borne virus, has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The virus has spread rapidly in Brazil and the Americas, and is suspected of causing birth defects.

WHO experts caution the link between the virus and microcephaly – in which babies are born with underdeveloped heads – is not yet proven.

Isolated Zika infections have been reported in a handful of countries in Asia.

South Korea said the infected man had been quarantined and his movements tracked since returning home, according to the Yonhap news agency.