Man tests positive for MERS in Thailand
Print Edition
THAILAND said yesterday that a 75-year-old man from Oman was confirmed to have MERS in Southeast Asia’s first case of the virus since an outbreak in South Korea that has killed 23 people so far.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome has spread at an alarming pace since the first case on May 20, infecting 165 people in the largest outbreak outside Saudi Arabia.
Thailand, a booming medical tourism hub popular with Middle East patients, announced its first MERS case after around 20 people had earlier tested negative for the virus.
A Thai government spokesman told reporters the man had traveled to a central Bangkok hospital for treatment for a heart problem.
After being tested for MERS he was moved to the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute on the outskirts of Bangkok.
Authorities are looking for people who were on the same flight as well as anyone else who came in contact with man during his time in the Thai capital.
Earlier yesterday, World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan expressed guarded optimism over South Korea’s ability to contain the outbreak after the WHO previously described the spread of the disease as a “wake-up call.”
“Our current assessment of the MERS situation in South Korea ... is the government is now on a very good footing,” she told reporters, adding that the situation did not constitute an international public health emergency.
“The MERS outbreak will be brought under control ... although it may take a little longer than everyone would like to see,” said Chan, who is in South Korea for a previously scheduled conference.
She said the government had admitted it got off to a “slow start” but that its efforts strengthened “very quickly and systemically and very significantly,” resulting in a decline in new cases.
The good news is that scientists had not detected any genetic change in the virus, she said.
Chan’s comments came as South Korea’s health ministry reported three more deaths and three more cases, despite authorities saying earlier that the country had weathered the worst of the crisis.
More than 6,700 people are currently in quarantine in South Korea.
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