MERS
infectees may have worsened outbreak: WHO
Sun,
Jun 14, 2015
Reuters,
SEOUL
The
WHO yesterday said that South Korea’s outbreak of Middle East respiratory
syndrome (MERS) was “large and complex” and more cases should be anticipated,
but there is no sign the disease is spreading in the community.
There
was also no indication that the MERS virus in South Korea had mutated to make
it more transmissible, WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda told a news
conference at the South Korean Health Ministry in Sejong, south of Seoul.
The
virus has infected 138 people in South Korea and killed 14 of them since it was
first diagnosed on May 20 in a businessman who had returned from a trip to the
Middle East.
The
outbreak is the largest outside Saudi Arabia, where the disease was first
identified in humans in 2012, and has stirred fears in Asia of a repeat of a
2002-to-2003 scare when SARS killed about 800 people worldwide.
“Because
the outbreak has been large and is complex, more cases should be anticipated,”
said Fukuda, who is leading a WHO team that is conducted a joint review with
South Korean officials of the country’s response to the outbreak.
He
said he was encouraged that South Korea’s control measures were having an
impact.
The
businessman who brought MERS back to South Korea visited several health centers
for a cough and fever before he was diagnosed, leaving a trail of infection in
his wake.
All
of South Korea’s cases have been linked to health facilities.
Fukuda
cited crowded emergency units and wards, together with the custom of friends
and family visiting patients as aggravating a less than optimal initial
response to an unfamiliar infection.
A
tendency for sick people to visit more than one health facility, as the
businessman did, was also likely to have been a factor, he said.
“The
practice of seeking care at many different medical facilities, so-called
‘doctor shopping,’ may have been a contributing factor,” he said.
However,
the spread was confined to hospitals.
“At
present, the mission has found no evidence to indicate there is an ongoing
transmission in the community,” Fukuda said.
Authorities
have sealed off at least two hospitals and about 4,000 people are in
quarantine, either at home or in medical facilities. Quarantine has been
widened to isolate anyone who may have come into contact with a MERS patient.
Structure of
the Lead：
WHO- The WHO
WHEN-not given
WHAT-MERS infectees may have worsened outbreak
WHY- not
given
WHERE- South Korea
HOW- It
was first diagnosed on May 20 in a businessman who had returned from a trip to
the Middle East.
Keywords：
1 respiratory：呼吸
2. anticipate：預期
3. mutate： 變異
4. transmissible：傳播
5. diagnose：診斷
6. aggravating：惱人的
7. sealed off：封鎖
8. quarantine：隔離
9.
tendency：趨勢
10. isolate：隔離
