South Korea confirmed on Tuesday that five more cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus as two have died of the said disease. It brought the total nu7mber of cases in the country to 30.
Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, who is in contact with South Korean doctors who are treating the patients, said in a statement reported in USA Today, that five new cases were confirmed.
The potentially-deadly disease caused the death of a 58-year old woman and a 71-year old man. The first confirmed case was two weeks ago and it caused public fear among citizens since the country is the first one to have many MERS cases outside the Middle East, reports Reuters.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, MERS is a viral respiratory disease that is new to humans and was reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. In fact, most of the patients who were infected with MERS-CoV (MERS Corona virus) developed severe acute respiratory illness including symptoms of cough, fever, and shortness of breath. Most of the patients died of the disease.
Actually, it is similar to a disease, SARS, which killed thousands of people in Asia in 2003. However, MERS is more aggressive than SARS for it has higher death rate and there is no cure. Now, the new cases added to the total number of cases based on the World Health Organization's data which is 1,166 and 436 total number of deaths.
The first ever MERS case reported in South Korea was confirmed on May 20. He was a 68-year old man who travelled to four Middle East countries. On May 11, he developed symptoms and was able to have his consultation at two outpatient clinics.
However, he was not isolated because he did not report any travel to high-risk countries. The WHO reports that he was exposed to a medical staff, family members and other patients.
