Post-traumatic stress symptoms in hemodialysis patients with MERS-CoV exposure

Cho, A Jin; Lee, Hong-Seock; Lee, Young-Ki; Jeon, Hee Jung; Park, Hayne Cho; Jeong, Da-Wun; Kim, Yang-Gyun; Lee, Sang-Ho; Lee, Chang-Hee; Yoo, Kyung Don; Wong, Ae Kyeong

According to the "Middle East respiratory syndrome clinical practice guideline for HD facilities" by the Korean Society of Nephrology during the MERS-CoV outbreak in 2015, a patient in close contact with a MERS patient, without fever or respiratory symptoms, would be subjected to hospitalized quarantine for 14 days since last exposure [10] . Close contact refers to a receiver of dialysis who was in the same place, at the same time as a suspected or confirmed MERS patient in the symptomatic period [11] . Asymptomatic casual contacts should be subjected to cohort isolation for 14 days after exposure and closely monitored for any suspicious symptoms. Casual contact refers to those who received dialysis on the same day, in the same room as a patient with suspected or confirmed MERS-CoV infection, but at different times and on different beds during the symptomatic period, without having worn appropriate personal protective equipment. Hospitalized quarantine was defined as single room or cohort isolation. Patients isolated in a single room received dialysis in their own rooms installed with dialysis machines. "Cohort isolation" is a method of hospitalized quarantine during HD treatment, in a shared HD room. Self-quarantine applied to a patient who received dialysis on a different day from dialysis date of MERS-CoV confirmed case or to patients who were exposed to MERS-CoV from a confirmed case outside HD units and had no respiratory symptoms. The patient was monitored for the development of fever or respiratory symptoms during quarantine.