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South Korean hospitals suspend services as MERS ou

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Albert View Drop Down
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    Posted: June 24 2015 at 5:52am
Not sure what to make of this, other than sporadic community spread.    South Korea has a mess on their hands.

South Korean hospitals suspend services as MERS outbreak spreads

Seoul (AFP) - Two major hospitals in South Korea's capital suspended services to patients on Wednesday in a bid to stop the spread of MERS after four new cases of the deadly virus were reported.

The new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome included two who were in the same hospital ward as other patients with the potentially deadly virus, Seoul's health ministry said.

The others were a nurse at Samsung Medical Centre in Seoul -- one of the epicentres of the outbreak -- and a relative of a patient who was hospitalised for an unspecified disease in a hospital in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, in early June.

Out of 179 people confirmed to have caught MERS, five were infected through unknown transmission routes outside hospitals, which have until now been at the epicentre of the outbreak, the ministry said.

A total of 27 people have died in South Korea's MERS outbreak -- the largest outside Saudi Arabia -- while about 3,100 people were being held under quarantine at state facilities or at home.

Samsung hospital, where nearly 90 patients, visitors and medical staff have contracted the virus, declared a 10-day suspension of most services on June 14 to stem the spread of the virus.

View gallery
South Korean medical workers wearing protective gear …
South Korean medical workers wearing protective gear walk to a separated clinic center for MERS at K …

But as the number of new infections has continued to grow, authorities have decided to extend the partial shutdown "indefinitely".

The outbreak at the hospital, which belongs to South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung group, prompted heir apparent Jay. Y. Lee to publicly apologise for "causing great pain and concern" on Tuesday.

Another major Seoul hospital, Konkuk University Medical Centre, on Wednesday also stopped admitting new patients and performing surgery after four cases were reported in recent days.

http://news.yahoo.com/south-korea-reports-four-mers-cases-015154418.html

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 8:50am
With more MERS cases, South Korea says outbreak at crossroads


South Korea's health ministry, which reported four new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on Wednesday, said the outbreak was at a crossroads, backing off from its earlier view that the spread of the often-deadly virus had leveled off.

The more guarded assessment came as the government extended the partial shutdown of Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, which had been due to end on Wednesday. About half the 179 infections in the country have been traced to the prestigious hospital, including some of this week's new cases.

"We are at a crossroads, whether this is going to spread further or not," Kwon Deok-cheol, the health ministry's chief policy official, told a news briefing.

"As of now we can't answer that part because additional cases have occurred, although we thought until last weekend it had leveled off," he said when asked if there was any change in its earlier view that the outbreak had settled.


The country reported no new MERS case on June 20 but since then 13 fresh cases have been confirmed. During the peak of the outbreak early this month, new infections exceeded 20 on some days.

A total of 67 people who had tested positive for the MERS virus have recovered and been discharged from hospital since the outbreak started in May, while 27 patients have died.

South Korea's outbreak of the virus is the largest outside Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, the heir apparent of South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group [SAGR.UL] bowed in apology during a nationally televised address for the failure to stop the spread of the virus at the hospital run by a group foundation.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/24/us-health-mers-southkorea-idUSKBN0P400M20150624

I don't think they know what to make of it!

"We are at a crossroads, whether this is going to spread further or not," Kwon Deok-cheol, the health ministry's chief policy official, told a news briefing.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Albert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 9:12am
This is about the 3rd crossroad they've hit.  We guessed a week ago that the cases would increase, and it appears they may be doing that. 

Remember, their case reporting is delayed a few days so they can see the increase before it's reported, so this is not a good sign.

South Korea is going to be in deep trouble with this one.  With MERS, you either eradicate the virus within the first couple of cases, or it's there to stay like the common cold, year after year.  Early intervention for each country is key.  In a short period of time there will be imported cases from both the Middle East and Korea.   And should it take hold in another country, we will have 3 countries spewing cases worldwide.  It could only be a matter of time before "MERS is a threat to the entire world".

MERS is becoming a way of life for KSA and Korea, and maybe it will be for everybody in the next 12-24 months.  I still believe it will ignite should it ever hit North America or Europe in the winter months.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote onefluover Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 9:19am
They're not getting a handle on it inside the hospitals because more people keep bringing it into the hospital to reinfect previously disinfected areas I suppose. Possibly asymptomatic cases that are infecting the weak elderly.
"And then there were none."
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Albert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 9:24am
Originally posted by Albert Albert wrote:

.... five were infected through unknown transmission routes outside hospitals, which have until now been at the epicentre of the outbreak, the ministry said.


This is the part they're covering up regarding community spread.  The "unknown transmission routes outside hospitals".   It's called human to human transmission.  Or environmental exposure sticking to surfaces. When it also  says "up until now", tells me they have lost control of it.  Or S Korea is finally coming clean.

That's the key to all of this that S. Korea and the WHO are concealing.    Community spread.  The WHO chooses its' words very wisely, and says there is "no sustained" human to human transmission among the community, but it is community spread none the less.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 10:07am
onefluover said- "Possibly asymptomatic cases that are infecting the weak elderly."

I've looked several times and cannot find any information on asymptomatic transmission. Does anyone have anything on this!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Albert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 10:09am
There could be a chance that MERS also jumped to a new animal species, as the unknown source of transmission.  South Korea is well known for eating dogs, which is pretty disgusting.  A disgusting culture altogether if you ask me.   Maybe they should start testing animals, but even if it was now found in dogs, they will probably never admit it.   The Chinese don't discuss cats as a vector since they eat them regularly, nor would S Korea discuss dogs as a vector. 


I apologize if this is a little graphic, but the facts are what they are...

wikipedia:

The consumption of dog meat in South Korea, where it is known as "Gaegogi" (Korean: 개고기), has a long history originating during Three Kingdoms of Korea.[1] In recent years, it has been controversial both in South Korea and around the world, due to animal rights and sanitary concerns. Dog meat is also consumed in North Korea, but the extent or form of this activity is currently unclear.

Koreans have distinguished Chinese terms for dog "견; 犬", which refers to pet dogs, feral dogs, and wolves from the Chinese term "구; 狗," which is used specifically to indicate dog meat. [4]

Approximately In 1816, Jeong Hak-yu, the second son of Jeong Yak-yong, a prominent politician and scholar of Joseon dynasty at the time, wrote a poem called Nongga Wollyeongga (농가월령가). This poem, which is an important source of Korean folk history, describes what ordinary Korean farming families did in each month of a year. In the description of the month of August the poem tells of a married woman visiting her birth parents with boiled dog meat, rice cake, and rice wine, thus showing the popularity of dog meat at the time (Ahn, 2000; Seo, 2002). Dongguk Sesigi (동국세시기), a book written by a Korean scholar Hong Seok-mo in 1849, contains a recipe of Bosintang including a boiled dog, green onion, and red chili pepper powder.[2]


The primary breed raised in dog farms for meat consumption, the Nureongi (누렁이), or Hwangu (황구; 黃狗), differs from those breeds raised for domestic pets.[5][6][7] Although a fair number of South Koreans (anywhere from 5 to 30%) have eaten dog meat at least once in their lifetime, only a small percentage of the population eats it regularly. There is a large and vocal group of Korean people that are against the practice of eating dog meat.[8] There is also a large population of people in South Korea that do not eat or enjoy the meat, but do feel strongly that it is the right of others to do so.[8] There is a smaller but still vocal group of pro-dog cuisine people in South Korea who want to popularize the consumption of dog in Korea and the rest of the world,[8] considering it to be part of the traditional culture of Korea with a long history worth preserving.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_meat_consumption_in_South_Korea


No big mystery why so many diseases spawn from Asia. 




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Albert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 10:14am
All studies I've seen say that asymptomatic cases are not infectious, but the same studies also say they no virtually nothing about the virus.  So who knows.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 10:47am
Yep - they keep coming up with "watersheds" and "crossroads" - it tells me that they're totally out of their depth and not sure how this is spreading (when it's clearly in the community now). This virus spreads more easily than anyone is willing to admit. How it does that is still a mystery because the years it was in Saudi were lost to researchers because they were too proud to let the wider scientific community in. Efficiently airborne, long lived on fomites - something is giving it an advantage that's defeating the measures they have in place.
Still can't believe China and Thailand had patients wandering around for days and they're showing no spread. Fishy...

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 10:51am
I did another search and found this:


A MERS family cluster


Thanks to Greg Folkers for sending the link to this report in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases: A family cluster of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus infections related to a likely unrecognized asymptomatic or mild case. The authors include Dr. Ziad A. Memish, the Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Health. The abstract:
Background

Ninety confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have been reported to the World Health Organization. We report the details of a second family cluster of MERS-CoV infections from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Methods

We present the clinical, laboratory and epidemiological details of 3 patients from a family cluster of MERS-CoV infections.

Results

The first patient developed respiratory symptoms and fever 14 days after admission to hospital for an unrelated reason. He died 11 days later with multi-organ failure. Two of his brothers presented later to another hospital with respiratory symptoms and fever. MERS-CoV infection in the latter 2 patients was confirmed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing. All 3 patients had fever, cough, shortness of breath, bilateral infiltrates on chest x-ray, thrombocytopenia, lymphopenia and rises in serum creatinine kinase and alanine transaminase. No hospital or other social contacts are known to have acquired the infection. It appears that the index patient in this cluster acquired MERS-CoV infection whilst in hospital from an unrecognized mild or asymptomatic case.

Conclusion

MERS-CoV acquisition from unrecognized mild or asymptomatic cases may be a more important contributor to ongoing transmission than previously appreciated.


If I understand this correctly, asymptomatic MERS cases, in hospital for other reasons, are capable of spreading the virus to other patients. That may help to explain why the sources of MERS have been so hard to track down: Like asymptomatic poultry carrying H7N9, they draw no attention to themselves.

http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2013/08/a-mers-family-cluster.html
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote onefluover Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 11:04am
Originally posted by arirish arirish wrote:

onefluover said- "Possibly asymptomatic cases that are infecting the weak elderly."

I've looked several times and cannot find any information on asymptomatic transmission. Does anyone have anything on this!


I based my comment off a link I earlier posted that said they (the study) determined there must be 40 or 50 thousand mild or asymptomatic cases in KSA.
"And then there were none."
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote onefluover Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 11:11am
"And then there were none."
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Albert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 24 2015 at 11:50am
Originally posted by jacksdad jacksdad wrote:


Still can't believe China and Thailand had patients wandering around for days and they're showing no spread. Fishy...



Agreed.  They undoubtedly have an outbreak of some sort on their hands.  Although China is the masters of containing an outbreak. God knows they've had enough practice.   South Korea failed to contain it and they "had" to come clean.  By the time these Asian countries have to admit it,  it means game over and all means to control it is over.

Thailand started treating that first patient 9 days ago, along with the symptomatic family members. Lets see what happens.


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