The e-mail-borne Sircam computer virus has infected a terminal in a Japan Coast Guard department, coast guard officials said Saturday.

Officials said the worm-type virus struck around 4:25 p.m. Friday, with 58 infected e-mails being transmitted outside. As a countermeasure, they said they are alerting recipients about Sircam.

The virus was contained before it affected other offices within the coast guard.

Sircam can apparently copy and transmit private files over the Internet as well as send copies of itself to stored addresses as e-mail attachments.