Marcus Andersson

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Coronaviruset

Smittan i Asien

En patogen betecknar i bred betydelse något som kan orsaka sjukdom. Begreppet används dock vanligast synonymt med smittämne för att beteckna smittsamma mikroorganismer såsom vissa bakterier, virus och svampar och ämnen som prioner. Små djur som kan orsaka smittsamma sjukdomar betecknas vanligen parasiter snarare än patogener.
Andra sjukdomsorsakande ämnen och faktorer som gifter, stress och autoimmunitet brukar inte betecknas som patogener. Begreppet patogenes, beskrivningen av uppkomst och utveckling av sjukdom, används däremot både för sjukdomar orsakade av patogener och andra sjukdomar. 
Ordet patogen kommer från grekiskans πάθος pathos, "lidande, passion" och γἰγνομαι (γεν-) gignomai (gen-), "att ge liv åt". Det motsatta begreppet är apatogen.

Patogen

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Helena Sällström

Jon Chol Jin / AP

The COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). North Korea confirmed its first case on 8 May 2022.
North Korea is a secretive and diplomatically isolated country in East Asia. Its weak healthcare system and impoverished population led to concerns over the country's vulnerability to an outbreak, though its cold chain vaccination program had proven capable in prior pandemics. With a totalitarian political system, little information on the pandemic's impacts on North Korea has been available to international observers.
In January 2020, the North Korean government began taking extensive measures to protect itself from the initial COVID-19 epidemic, including the establishment of quarantine facilities, and strict travel restrictions. In March and April 2020, the Asia Times and 38 North reported that these measures seemed largely successful.
Before May 2022, the government of North Korea had not reported any confirmed cases of COVID-19, although some foreign analysts believed that the virus had spread there by March 2020. Daily NK, a South Korean dissident-run news website, said that about 180 soldiers had possibly died from COVID-19 symptoms in January and February 2020. In July 2020, a single suspected case in Kaesong prompted a three-week lockdown.
By 2021, there were increasing reports that the isolation imposed to avoid the pandemic was having a major impact on the economy. The country declined several international offers of COVID-19 vaccines, making it one of the few countries not to begin a vaccination programme. North Korea began administering its first vaccine doses in June 2022.In May 2022, the Korean Central News Agency reported that an unspecified number of people in the capital Pyongyang tested positive for the virus, and announced the country's first confirmed deaths. Authorities announced over 1 million North Koreans were suffering from "fever". Kim Jong-un declared a national emergency and a country-wide lockdown.
While NK News asserts that "fever" is used as a substitute for COVID-19 cases, the South Korean National Intelligence Service stated that the total included cases of waterborne diseases, such as measles and typhoid.

Smittan i Asien

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