2nd Korean Zika case reported

MANILA - South Korea has recorded its second case of Zika virus infection, involving a man who had a history of travel to the Philippines.

News agency Xinhua reported that the 20-year-old man claimed to have been bitten by mosquitoes while staying in the Philippines for five days through April 14.

The man developed symptoms of flu on April 20, and started manifesting rashes two days later.

It was the second  Zika case in South Korea since a 43-year-old man was diagnosed with the virus on March 22.

Department of Health Secretary Janette Garin said the new case has been confirmed by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Garin said the patient is well and not in the Philippines anymore.

She added that those who came in contact with him in the country were not manifesting symptoms.

In March, a woman was diagnosed with Zika virus in the United States after having traveled to the Philippines.

source: interaksyon.com

Wearable devices have bright future — survey

BEIJING — A latest survey showed that wearable devices will become more popular in the Chinese market in the next five years.

For wearable health devices, 39 percent of respondents worldwide plan to buy one by 2020, but 65 percent of Chinese consumers surveyed already have an interest in buying one, according to a survey filed to Xinhua Saturday by Accenture, a consulting and technology services company.

As many as 67 percent of Chinese consumers are likely to buy wearable fitness monitors and 73 percent wants smart watches in the coming five years, more than doubled 32 percent and 27 percent in the United States.

When buying wearable and other smart devices, Chinese consumers place features and functions as the most important factors.

However, user experience is lacking at the current time, as a staggering 83 percent of those surveyed across the globe reported various problems when they use these new types of devices.

In China, the top three issues consumers face are “too complicated to use,” “set-up did not proceed properly” and “not visually or aesthetically appealing”. Only 1 percent of Chinese respondents said they did not experience any challenges at all, the survey said.

The survey was conducted online between October and November 2014, with 24,000 respondents in 24 countries, including China, Australia, Brazil, France, Turkey and the United States.

At present, wearable devices are marketed by a number of companies, including Apple Inc., China’s Xiaomi, and Samsung from South Korea.

source: interaksyon.com