Infect Chemother.  2015 Dec;47(4):247-251. 10.3947/ic.2015.47.4.247.

The Same Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) yet Different Outbreak Patterns and Public Health Impacts on the Far East Expert Opinion from the Rapid Response Team of the Republic of Korea

Abstract

A Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak, the largest outbreak outside the Middle East in 2012, occurred in the Republic of Korea and resulted in a large number of cases, with 186 infected people, including 38 deaths. A Rapid Response Team (RRT) was appointed after a request from the Korean government on June 8, 2015 calling for specialists to manage and control the MERS-CoV outbreak. This report presents the opinion of the RRT who worked to manage this healthcare-associated MERS-CoV outbreak in Korea.

Keyword

Middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus; Epidemics; Public health

MeSH Terms

Expert Testimony*
Far East*
Hospital Rapid Response Team*
Korea
Middle East*
Public Health*
Republic of Korea*
Specialization

Figure

  • Figure 1 Epidemic curve of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection according to date of symptom onset and main timeline events in South Korea as of August 23th, 2015.

  • Figure 2 Organizations involved in controlling the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in South Korea.


Reference

1. World Health Organization (WHO). Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)-Republic of Korea. Accessed 30 May 2015. Available at: http://www.who.int/csr/don/30-may-2015-mers-korea.
2. Ben Embarek PK, Van Kerkhove MD. Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV): current situation 3 years after the virus was first identified. Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 2015; 90:245–250.
3. Jun KW. How MERS could affect South Korea's economy. South Brunswick: The Wall Streeet Journal;2015. 06. 10. Accessed 20 July 2015. Available at: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/06/10/how-mers-could-affect-south-koreas-economy/.
4. World Health Organization (WHO). WHO statement on the ninth meeting of the IHR Emergency Committee regarding MERS-CoV: WHO statement 17 June 2015. Accessed 20 July 2015. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2015/ihr-ec-mers/en/.
5. Lloyd-Smith JO, Schreiber SJ, Kopp PE, Getz WM. Super-spreading and the effect of individual variation on disease emergence. Nature. 2005; 438:355–359.
Article
6. Stein RA. Super-spreaders in infectious diseases. Int J Infect Dis. 2011; 15:e510–e513.
Article
7. The Korean Society of Infectious Diseases, Korean Society for Healthcare-associated Infection Control and Prevention. An unexpected outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in the Republic of Korea, 2015. Infect Chemother. 2015; 47:120–122.
8. Ministry of Health & Welfare. Korean MOH press release. [trans. Korean subscribers, edited]. Accessed 9 Jun 2015. Available at: http://www.mw.go.kr/front_new/al/sal0301vw.jsp?PAR_MENU_ID=04&MENU_ID=0403&page=1&CONT_SEQ=323205.
9. Oboho IK, Tomczyk SM, Al-Asmari AM, Banjar AA, Al-Mugti H, Aloraini MS, Alkhaldi KZ, Almohammadi EL, Alraddadi BM, Gerber SI, Swerdlow DL, Watson JT, Madani TA. 2014 MERS-CoV outbreak in Jeddah-a link to health care facilities. N Engl J Med. 2015; 372:846–854.
Article
10. World Health Organization (WHO). Summary and risk assessment of current situation in the republic of Korea and China: MERS-CoV risk assessment 19 June 2015. Accessed 20 July 2015. Available at: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/coronavirus_infections/risk-assessment-19june2015/en/.
11. Jack A. Why the panic? South Korea's MERS response questioned. BMJ. 2015; 350:h3403.
Article
12. Perl TM, Price CS. Orchestrated scientific collaboration: critical to the control of MERS-CoV. Ann Intern Med. 2015; 163:313–314.
Article
Full Text Links
  • IC
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr