Better Understanding on MERS Corona Virus Outbreak in Korea

Lee, Jacob

On May 20 2015, a man at the age of 68 was the first to be diagnosed with MERS-Cov in Korea. He travelled to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar for 16 days. On May 4 2015, this patient entered in Korea, and febrile sense and respiratory symptoms appeared on May 11. He visited Clinic A on the day and was admitted to Hospital B from May 15 to 17. Since the symptoms got worsened, he visited Clinic C on May 18, and finally he was transferred to a university hospital in Seoul on May 18. On May 20, it was confirmed that he was suffering from MERS-CoV. After finding out about the disease, his family members and medical staffs who had been exposed to the virus were isolated. By June 9, 2015, 2 medical staffs in the Clinic A and C, one medical staff in the Hospital B, one patient and her wife who was together with the index case in the same room and 35 of admitted patients in the same ward and their family members visiting same ward with the index case in the Hospital B were confirmed to have been infected with MERS-CoV. After then, several tertiary cases were identified in the Hospital B or other hospitals that secondary patients were transferred from the Hospital B. A total of 108 people were infected, and 9 (8.3%) of them died by June 10, 2015.