Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in 3 Persons, South Korea, 2015

Abstract

In May 2015, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection was laboratory confirmed in South Korea. Patients were a man who had visited the Middle East, his wife, and a man who shared a hospital room with the index patient. Rapid laboratory confirmation will facilitate subsequent prevention and control for imported cases.

Kinetics of Serologic Responses to MERS Coronavirus Infection in Humans, South Korea

“…First, no MERS-CoV isolates from the study patients were available, so MERS-CoV EMC was the basis of the serologic assays we used. Strain EMC is a clade A virus, and the outbreak in South Korea was caused by a clade B virus ( 1 ). However, using serum from naturally infected camels, we previously showed that clade A and B viruses and genetically diverse MERS-CoVs from Egypt were serologically indistinguishable ( 10 ).…”

“…During May–June 2015, an outbreak of MERS-CoV in South Korea resulted in 186 infections and 36 deaths ( 1 – 3 ); the outbreak strain was a clade B MERS-CoV closely related to viruses circulating in the Middle East ( 1 ). Seventeen patients with reverse transcription PCR–confirmed MERS-CoV infections were included in this study; the patients were hospitalized at Seoul National University (SNU) Hospital or SNU Boramae Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea, or at SNU Bundang Hospital, in Bundang, South Korea.…”

“…He required mechanical ventilation, and on illness day 14, he was given convalescent-phase plasma (200 mL; antibody titer unknown) from the outbreak index patient’s wife ( 1 ). The next day, antibody responses were undetectable in the patient’s serum by PRNT or ELISA.…”

A Middle East respiratory syndrome screening clinic for health care personnel during the 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in South Korea: A single-center experience

“…1,2 Isolated strains were typed as clade B MERS-coronavirus (CoV) and were closely related to the viruses circulating in the Middle East. 3 The distinct feature of the MERS outbreak in South Korea was that the transmission was hospital-related, with transmission within the hospital and from hospital to hospital, resulting in the exposure of a high number of health care personnel (HCP) to MERS-CoV. 4 In general, HCP form a considerable proportion of confirmed MERS cases as observed during previous outbreaks.…”

Modeling Emergent Diseases

“…In May 2015 a 68-year-old man in South Korea was diagnosed with MERS-CoV 9 days after returning from a trip to the Middle East, and this index case led to 186 people being infected and 36 deaths. 15 The example highlights how in today's society, the convenience of worldwide travel allows for potentially rapid dissemination of disease exposure from one country to another. Early action to develop new or better animal models for MERS-CoV and other emergent diseases can expedite their use for study of much-needed vaccines and therapeutics to potentially mitigate the extent and severity of outbreaks worldwide.…”