Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday said that despite confirming a third case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the disease has little to no chance of spreading further in the country.
The announcement came a day after the country reported its very first case of the disease, and the CDC raised its alert status to the third-highest level of caution, leading to heightened health checks at airports and other entry points.
MERS is a fairly new respiratory illness whose first case was confirmed in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Though just 1,142 cases have been reported in 23 countries, the disease has no vaccine or cure, and its fatality rate is relatively high at 40.7 percent.
The third case occurred in an elderly man, 76, who was in the same hospital room as the man with the country’s first confirmed case of MERS, 68. The latter’s wife also came down with the condition.
The 68-year-old man is known to have visited the Middle East last month and returned home May 4.
The CDC said the disease is considered less contagious than most other infectious diseases, saying transmission occurs only through a significant level of direct contact.
By D. Peter Kim
