The Lancet: Study maps transmission of MERS virus in South Korean hospital from one 'super-spreader' patient

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/tl-tls070716.php
Public Release: 8-Jul-2016
[h=1]The Lancet: Study maps transmission of MERS virus in South Korean hospital from one 'super-spreader' patient[/h] The Lancet

• Overcrowded emergency room was high risk location of infection
• Super-spreader patient linked to 82 of the 186 MERS cases seen in the 2015 South Korean outbreak

Tracing the movements of patients at a South Korean hospital has helped identify how Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus was transmitted from a single super-spreader patient in an overcrowded emergency room to a total of 82 individuals over three days including patients, visitors and health-care workers. The study, published today in The Lancet, maps the transmission of South Korea's first outbreak of MERS virus and the case of highest transmission of MERS virus from a single patient outside the Middle East.
The study demonstrates the potential for outbreaks of MERS Coronavirus (MERS-CoV - the virus behind MERS) from a single spreader, as has been previously documented for SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). The authors say that as long as the MERS transmission in the Middle East continues, governments and health-care providers should be prepared for emerging infections...

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