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The so-called large hospitals have managed to prevent the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) from spreading, as the country saw its first MERS infection in three years.
MERS is a viral respiratory disease with a mortality rate of 20 to 46%. The condition comes from a coronavirus carried by camels and is highly contagious for a prolonged period. This is the first case of MERS diagnosed in Korea since 2015, when an epidemic killed 38 people.
According to the KCDC (Korean Center for Disease Prevention and Control), the man was returning from a business trip to Kuwait from August 16 to September 7. 6 and returned home on a United Arab Emirates flight on Friday. The patients had visited a local hospital in Kuwait for symptoms of diarrhea. However, after showing the same signs at the Incheon International Airport, the authorities took the man to the emergency medical center Samsung (SMC).
Upon arrival, the hospital placed the patient in an isolated section of the emergency room and reported it to the health authorities as a suspected case of MERS. Subsequently, the MSC transferred the patient to the Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH), which operates a nationally designated quarantine hospital, where it has been tested positive for the disease.
To stop further panic or confusion, both hospitals issued immediate statements.
"The medical staff who cared for the patient was wearing proper protective equipment and is now quarantined for security reasons," said the hospital. "Moreover, since the patient was placed in an isolation ward as soon as he arrived, no other patient had contact with the MERS patient."
SMC had already mismanaged the MERS crisis in 2015 after an outbreak of infection at the hospital and became the second epicenter of the spread of the MERS. During this period, the hospital was criticized for its control and prevention of inadequate infections. The hospital is currently running without any problems, added the hospital.
SNUH also confirmed that the MERS-infected patient was in complete quarantine.
"Our hospital is happy to have mastered the situation in advance and to prevent unnecessary infections," said a hospital official at Korea Biomedical Review. "As the patient is hospitalized in an isolation ward, there is no fear of an additional infection for other patients."
As the hospital begins outpatient treatment on Monday, it may be somewhat crowded, but the hospital is gearing up to reduce the inconvenience of other patients and visitors, he added.
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