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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, June 23, 2009

20 Hawaii students quarantined in S. Korea awaiting swine flu test results


By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

Twenty high school students from Hawaiçi remained quarantined in South Korea tonight pending the results of tests to determine whether they have the H1N1 virus, or swine flu.

Five of the students were found to have elevated temperatures when their flight landed today at Seoul Inchon Airport. Korea performs temperature scans on incoming airline passengers as a precaution to guard against the spread of the H1N1 virus.
The students are participants in a study tour organized by the Honolulu-based Pacific and Asian Affairs Council. The group left on the tour Monday and is scheduled to return July 5.
Speaking from Honolulu, Ruth Limtiaco, PAAC board member and spokeswoman, described what happened.
“... When they arrived at the airport in Inchon there was routine screening ... for flu and five of the students were discovered to have a slightly elevated temperature of around 100. Those five were separated and quarantined at the airport and later transferred to what they call a national hospital near Seoul.
“The remaining 15 students are in a hotel in Seoul where they are also in quarantine until they get the blood test results back on the other five.
“And now we are all waiting for the results of those tests,” Limtiaco said.
Limtiaco added that all the students have been in contact with their parents and all are doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances.