WHO on MERS in Korea: `No sustained transmission between humans`

WHO on MERS in Korea: `No sustained transmission between humans`. June. 11, 2015 07:32. aimhigh@donga.com.

Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, World Health Organization MERS specialist, said Tuesday, “In Korea, we do not have sustained transmission between humans.”

According to science and technology magazine New Scientist, Embarek spoke at a briefing in U.N. headquarters in Geneva on Tuesday saying, “It is not a situation we would characterize as ‘sustained’ because sustained also means that you have a reservoir that is sustaining further transmission,“ adding, “All the cases are still linked to the same chain of transmission and that Korea’s health authorities are keeping track of them." He noted that MERS symptoms in Korea are not very different from other infected countries, rejecting any major mutation.

With all reported MERS patients in Korea having been infected within the hospital, he said in Korea patients tend to visit several hospitals and thus hospitals became MERS infected places. But Dr. Embarek warned there could be cases of infection coming outside of hospitals if the link of transmission is not broken.