Why is the MERS epidemic spreading rapidly in Korea?

At first, doctors said the 68-year-old grandfather could simply have pneumonia, with symptoms like coughing and wheezing. However, nine days later, they found that the patient had suffered from a serious and highly contagious disease.

MERS epidemic spread quickly in Korea

Health officials said that during those 9 days, this patient had repeatedly infected dozens of other people. These people unknowingly spread the disease to dozens, hundreds of others. This number keeps growing.

This is the first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Korea , the disease is not easy to diagnose early because of the symptoms similar to other common respiratory infections. .

Visitors wear masks to prevent MERS disease when coming to Korea.(Photo: Reuters)

However, according to The New York Times, medical experts believe that the cause of the disease is constantly spreading and becomes a particularly serious problem in Korea is due to specificities in the hospital system in the country. this family

Patients often scramble, squeeze together, ask for help and find ways to be treated in large hospitals with the belief that there are good medical doctors. In addition, the family members of the patients and regular caregivers are busy at the hospital, doing tasks such as wiping sweat, cleaning, changing bed sheets to make themselves more susceptible to infection.

Cho Sung-il, a professor of epidemiology, said: 'Our country's crowded hospital environment is a weakness. The likelihood of emergent contact in the emergency room in hospitals in Korea is very high because the seats and beds are often arranged closely. '

Until June 9, there were 95 cases and 7 deaths from MERS in Korea. Fear of this situation, patients from many places poured into hospitals in the capital Seoul , including hospitals that discovered the most MERS cases.

Kim Woo-joo, head of the Korean Society for Infectious Diseases , and a leading epidemiologist on the government's MERS epidemic, said: 'Congestion occurs in major hospitals. It is a characteristic of Korea, and I think this is not a beneficial situation when there is an infectious virus'.

According to the researchers, MERS viruses have spread from camels to humans via the air to breathe. A person can spread the disease to others around coughing or sneezing. The disease causes symptoms like high fever or pneumonia, there is currently no vaccine or treatment, with a mortality rate of up to 40%.

With the case of the first MERS patient in Korea, Kim said, after being admitted to St. Mary's Hospital in Pyeongtaek, the 68-year-old patient infected 37 people. Later, an infected patient who was transferred to the emergency room of Samsung Hospital in Seoul continued to infect at least 35 others. Nearly 700 people who went into this emergency room were isolated.

Some experts have blamed the Korean government for the initial slow response to the disease. Sun-ha Jee, a public health professor commented: ' When authorities discover the first case of infection, they should have taken more positive steps, revealing the hospital name of the disease. People visited and tried their best to localize the outbreak '.

On June 7, the government revealed the names of 24 hospitals that discovered MERS patients, two and a half weeks after identifying the first case. Explaining the delay, officials said they feared it might panic for the neighborhoods around the hospital, but this reason has met some criticism from the people.

In response to the MERS epidemic , the Korean government decided to temporarily close nearly 2,000 schools, canceling many community, music and sports activities. Sales of masks and hand sanitizers skyrocketed.

On June 8, South Korean President Park Geun-hye announced 'national response' in an effort to prevent and quell this dangerous disease. In Hong Kong, the authorities also called on people to "avoid unnecessary travel" to Korea.