by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
South Korea’s tally of patients infected with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) rose to 12, including a man who traveled to China and broke quarantine protocol, said the health ministry.
The infections were first transmitted by a 68-year-old man who had traveled from Bahrain to Seoul. According to the Korea Herald, the man was hospitalized on May 12 and is currently in stable condition.
MERS is a viral respiratory illness that was first reported in Saudi Arabia back in 2012. It bears striking similarities to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus, which killed hundreds of people, mostly in China, in 2003.
Symptoms include high fever, coughing, shortness of breath and, in some cases, kidney failures. There is no known cure or vaccine to prevent the infection. Good news is that MERS is easier to contain than the more infectious SARS. Unfortunately, MERS is more deadly, causing lungs to shut down faster than SARS.
Health officials said new MERS cases include a 30-year-old nurse and a 56-year-old patient who had been in the same hospital ward as the original case.
The 44-year-old traveler flew to Hong Kong on Tuesday was diagnosed with MERS on Friday, making him China’s first confirmed case. The man had apparently contracted the disease from his father, the second confirmed victim in the MERS outbreak. South Korea’s health ministry said the man was being observed for possible infection when he ignored doctors’ warning against travel and left for Hong Kong, reports Reuters.
“We should have checked more actively and broadly on family related issues. We are deeply sorry about that,” Yang Byung-kook, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters.
Hong Kong health authorities said they tracked down 38 people who had come in close contact with the Korean man. None of the potential patients so far have shown MERS symptoms. However, 12 people–three Koreans and nine Chinese–are being kept in quarantine in the hospital.
South Korea’s health ministry said more than 20 countries have been affected by 1,142 cases of MERS. Since May 16, there have been more than 450 deaths reported.
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Featured image via EPA
