How Authorities Are Trying to Stop the Deadly MERS Outbreak
As an outbreak of the deadly MERS virus spreads in South Korea, officials are trying to stop new infectious through a variety of measures.
There have been a reported 122 people infected with the virus in the
country and 10 people have died from the illness, according to South
Korea's Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization. Officials are trying to contain the outbreak by tracking contacts of those who have been confirmed as infected.
Among the measures being taken by health officials is the quarantining
of 3,800 people, according to the Associated Press. In a controversial
decision, the South Korean government announced it would track the
locations of possible MERS contacts by looking at the location of their
cell phones.
The incubation period for MERS is approximately between two to 14 days.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye cancelled a trip this week to the U.S. in order to continue to focus on responding to the outbreak.
Additionally, the government announced that it is stepping up monitoring
of people placed in quarantine. If a quarantined person doesn't respond
to two calls from authorities, that person can now expect a visit from
the health ministry to ensure they are staying in compliance.
Healthcare workers have made up a large number of those infected and
Korean authorities are trying to protect medical staff and other
patients by treating the infected in negative pressure rooms. At least
44 percent of all emergency rooms in the country are now designated to
deal with suspected MERS patients, officials said.
One possible reason that infections have spread among health care workers is that one or more patients can be "super spreaders."
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt
University Medical Center, said that super spreaders are used to
describe patients who are causing high numbers of infections.
One of the more "common reasons are that the person is exhaling a very
large amount of virus," he said, or a sick person is still "energetic."
"They may get around more ... give more hugs," Schaffner said of a super
spreader. "If they don’t feel quite well they may keep it to
themselves."
The government has also created separate spaces at some emergency rooms to deal specifically with suspected MERS patients.
“This separation will reduce anxiety among ER users and protect both
non-MERS patients and medical staff from contracting the virus,” health
ministry officials said in a statement.
In addition to putting those possibly exposed in quarantine, the
government has also closed at least 2,800 schools. But some in the local
and international health community have questioned the decision, saying
that there was not a medical reason to shut down schools.
Schaffner said it has been difficult to stop the outbreak because patient zero visited four hospitals before being diagnosed.
“The horse is out of the barn,” Schaffner said of the outbreak.
A common practice in Korean hospitals is to have family remembers help
patients in their hospital rooms, so that practice also likely helped
increase the spread of the illness, Schaffner said.
“The family becomes health care workers so there’s been spread now to family,” he said. “You can have a chain of transmission."
In the U.S., hospitals should immediately be checking a patient's travel
history to see if a person with a cough recently returned from South
Korea or the Arabian Peninsula, Schaffner said, noting that if they have
recently returned from those affected areas, they can immediately be
put into quarantine until they are found to be negative.
| ABC News | - |
As
an outbreak of the deadly MERS virus spreads in South Korea, officials
are trying to stop new infectious through a variety of measures.
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