2 deaths as MERS infections rise to 25
Print Edition
SOUTH Korea yesterday reported the first two deaths from an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome that has infected 25 people in two weeks.
It has isolated more than 700 people for possible MERS infection, which is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as the one that triggered the deadly 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). MERS has a much higher death rate than SARS and there is no cure or vaccine.
The World Health Organization puts the total number of cases globally at 1,161, with at least 436 related deaths. It said no mutation had been detected in the virus in South Korea, and it did not appear to be spreading easily.
A 57-year-old woman, who had contact with South Korea’s first patient, died of acute respiratory failure on Monday, the health ministry said. She died at a hospital in Gyeonggi, the country’s most populous province which surrounds the capital Seoul.
A 71-year-old man who had been on respiratory support with a history of kidney ailments also died.
The ministry reported seven new cases yesterday, including the woman who died, bringing the total to 25, the third highest number after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Officials have come under criticism from many in South Korea for not naming the hospitals where people have been treated, which has fuelled widespread speculation.
“We’re finding it difficult to obtain suitable and sufficient information from South Korean authorities, for example, finding out which medical institutions are involved,” said Ko Wing-man, Hong Kong’s food and health secretary.
China last week reported its first MERS case, that of a South Korean man who tested positive after traveling to Hong Kong and on to the mainland.
South Korean Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said the government’s credibility was at stake after criticism of the authorities for failing to contain the virus after the first patient’s symptoms were initially overlooked.
“We will bring together all our health-related capabilities now and work to dissolve anxiety and concerns quickly,” he said.
The death rate from MERS, first identified in humans in 2012, has been 38 percent, according to WHO figures, with older patients and those with existing respiratory and renal ailments at greater risk.
However, experts said that figure may overstate the fatality rate as many patients with few symptoms might go undetected.
By comparison, the death rate from SARS was 9 to 12 percent, rising above 50 percent for patients over 65, according to the US National Library of Medicine.
“What is important is that we do not have a change in pattern. We also have seen in the Middle East a few individuals who transmitted (the virus) further on,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said.
The WHO has so far not recommended trade or travel restrictions for South Korea but a health ministry official said that South Korean border control authorities had put a ban on overseas travel for people isolated for possible infection.
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor said it had asked employees to avoid traveling to the Middle East, while Samsung Electronics said it was screening employees twice a day in South Korea for fever, and would refrain from large-scale events.
Fifty-eight schools and kindergartens in Gyeonggi have been shut for the week.
Top South Korea travel agency Hana Tour said yesterday that about 300 Chinese people had dropped plans to travel to the country because of the MERS outbreak.
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