MERS cases in S Korea hit 162; death toll at 20
South Korean health officials have reported eight new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) as the potentially deadly illness continues to claim more lives in the East Asian nation.
South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare reported on Wednesday that the eight patients, whose ages range from 31 to 79 years old, bring the total number of people diagnosed with the disease to 162.
The eight new South Korean cases include four who were infected at Samsung Medical Center in the capital, Seoul. The center serves as the epicenter of the South Korean MERS outbreak, and nearly 80 patients, visitors and medical staffers have contracted the virus there.
Meanwhile, a Health Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said another MERS patient has died, pushing up to 20 the number of fatalities in the epidemic that began last month.
The latest person to die from MERS was a 54-year-old woman, who had an existing respiratory problem, as well as high blood pressure, prior to infection.
The ministry said nearly 90 percent of those who died from MERS had existing health conditions, which were apparently exacerbated by the infection.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the MERS outbreak in South Korea as "large and complex." The outbreak has been traced to a 68-year-old South Korean man, who was diagnosed with the infection after returning from a business trip to the Middle East in early May.
Some 6,500 people have been quarantined until today, June 17, for possible infection after coming in close contact with MERS patients. The figure shows a considerable rise from 5,586 recorded the previous day.
More than 54,000 foreign travelers have also cancelled planned trips to South Korea so far this month, according to the Korea Tourism Board.
MERS, a cousin of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), causes coughing, fever, pneumonia and kidney failure, but it does not appear to be as contagious as SARS, which killed some 800 people in a 2003 epidemic.
The vast majority of MERS infections and deaths have been reported in Saudi Arabia, where more than 950 people have been infected and 412 have died from the illness.
There is no vaccine for MERS which has a mortality rate of 35 percent, according to the WHO.
MP/NN/HRB
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