MERS outbreak: 2,300-plus quarantined; 1,800 schools closed in South Korea

[Serendipity 7,821]

Fears of MERS in South Korea are growing by the day, with more than 2,300 people quarantined as the country grapples with the outbreak.

More than 1,800 schools will be closed for several days amid concerns of the spread of Middle East respiratory syndrome. They include at least 1,255 schools in Gyeonggi province, the area outside Seoul where the outbreak started and where a South Korean air force member stationed at a U.S. air base has been isolated with the illness.

Other closed schools are in the Gangnam region, near the Samsung Seoul hospital -- the most affected hospital in the city.

In total, 87 people have contracted the virus, and six people have died, according to official numbers.

 

 

A South Korean air force member stationed at a U.S. air base tested positive for MERS last week and remains in isolation at a military hospital on the base, a South Korean Ministry of National Defense official said.

The sergeant had received treatment for an Achilles' heel at the same hospital that had the first MERS patient in South Korea, who became sick after visiting four Middle Eastern countries.

There are no other diagnosed cases of MERS on base, according to Osan Air Base. The United States built the base, south of Seoul, during the Korean War.

 

 

 

Source

 

"The world is unprepared," stated WHO director general Margaret Chan at a session alongside Peter Piot in Davos. "After H1N1, the conclusion was the world is ill prepared for severe and sustained disease." In her eyes, the scale of Ebola last year was unprecedented. New ideas are needed to prevent this happening again in the future.

"We need to think outside the box in the future," says Barclay, whose team works on the development of vaccines to stop the H1N1 pandemic in its tracks. But she doesn't think disease-specific vaccines are the way forward for all outbreaks. "For Ebola, Chikungunya, Lassa fever, Marburg ... are we really going to invent one for each one?" Barclay instead thinks one way forward could be therapeutics that tackle the symptoms of disease, meaning where diseases have similar symptoms -- such as Ebola and Marburg virus disease -- there could be a d--g against the symptoms of all of them to reduce further spread of infections.

Read: 'Instagram for Doctors' helps medics solve mystery cases

But when it comes to influenza, where the greatest global risk lies, the experts seem more optimistic.

"If we had another flu pandemic we would be fairly well set to run models quickly," says Eckstrand. Given the likelihood of another pandemic, Barclay's team see it fit in this case to develop disease-specific antivirals and vaccines against influenza when it arrives. In 2009, the development of an H1N1 vaccine slowed down the spread of the virus during the second wave of its transmission. The time taken for development meant it wasn't available during the first big wave of infections.

At the core of it all, the global monitoring systems in place are constantly being tuned to spot any strange, or new, occurrences.

"I look at GOARN as a safety net," concludes Heymann. GOARN is growing its capability to both spot and control disease outbreaks, with a network of labs, provision of advice and assistance when a new outbreak occurs. It is also building capacity within countries through improved labs, technology and skilled staff, to enable systems to be in place worldwide to tackle new or emerging infections spreading throughout a population.

"Countries that have had Ebola are more ready to deal with it, like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)," says Heymann of the country where the disease was first identified in 1976. Congolese communities now have a word for the disease and messages are in place to send out when a new outbreak occurs.

With MERS now climbing to the top as the infection on people's minds, its worth knowing that whilst we may not be quite ready to prevent disease outbreaks, we are, at least, more ready than ever before.

 

-World Health Organization

 

 

Precautions:

Some are here

 

 

 

I'm so scared RN

[Nein 508]

This is so scary  

[JusticeforVenus 950]

OMG NOOO AGAIN

[RAMROD 117,559]

Praying it won't get too long nor spread far away.

Praying everyone who haven't will not ever get infected.

Praying for my baes at YG Family to be safe from harm.

Praying airports in USA and Canada will act the shxt up now since Koreans are one most frequent people that visiting from Asia, aside of Japanese amd Chinese.

Esp in Cali, NYC, Vancouver, and Toronto.

Praying.

[Kabexuela 1,184]

I got so enthralled in the story I read, "With MERS now climbing to the top of the charts..."

MERS ha impact

[Luc 4,776]

Going to South Korea in a month  

[Serendipity 7,821]

Going to South Korea in a month  

​be careful and take precautions