North Korea has reportedly begun taking emergency measures to contain scarlet fever, which has been spreading in the communist country since last month and threatens to become a full-blown epidemic.

The South Korean human rights group Good Friends said Wednesday that the disease has been spreading rapidly throughout the North since mid-October.

The organization said the North’s public health authorities are scrambling to set up an emergency committee to organize efforts for containment of the illness, which is characterized by a sore throat, rash and fever that are usually treated with antibiotics.

As the contagion's spread has reportedly been aided by a lack of medicine and poor sanitary conditions, the North Korean government is said to be considering a transport ban on all parts of the country.

The rights group has asked Seoul to draw up emergency measures to contain the epidemic and provide medical assistance to the impoverished North.