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MERS is an infectious viral disease caused by a coronavirus and causes pneumonia and respiratory distress syndrome. The disease has been located in Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, mainly transmitted by dromedaries to humans. Human-to-human transmission is rare, but can occur in close contact. Coronaviruses have a protective protein capsule and what appears to be a "crown" of projections of the surface of the virus, visible in this image. Credit: Public Domain
South Korea has reported its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in three years, health officials said Saturday.
A 61-year-old businessman was diagnosed with a highly contagious viral respiratory disease, according to officials at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
He returned to South Korea Friday after a business trip to Kuwait where he stayed for three weeks, the KCDC said in a statement.
"The authorities have found and separated 20 people who have been in close contact with the infected person," KCDC chief Chung Eun-gyeong told reporters.
They include medical personnel, flight attendants and air passengers that the man has brought back to South Korea, she said.
He was hospitalized with fever and phlegm and was quarantined at a university hospital, she added.
This is the first case of MERS diagnosed in South Korea since 2015, when an epidemic killed 38 people and triggered widespread panic.
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