Thailand Reports First Confirmed Case of Deadly ME

Thailand Reports First Confirmed Case of Deadly MERS Virus



By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSJUNE 18, 2015, 8:30 A.M. E.D.T.



BANGKOK — Thailand confirmed on Thursday its first known case of the deadly MERS virus, a 75-year-old man who recently arrived from Oman for treatment of a heart condition.

Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin said two laboratories had confirmed the results.

The man has been quarantined at the ministry's infectious diseases facility, he said.

He said the patient was traveling with three other family members, who also are being watched at the facility. Public health officials are also monitoring others who were in contact with the man, including nearby passengers on the airplane.

Rajata said the man didn't have any symptoms while traveling on the plane, but began to have fatigue and difficulty breathing after he was admitted to a private hospital for treatment of his heart condition.

People from the Middle East frequently come to Thailand for medical care.

"We advise the public not to panic because the patient and his family members were separated since the beginning," Rajata said. "Our system is ready and we are monitoring the cases closely."

Thanarath Phalipat, director of the Bureau of Epidemiology, said 59 people who were in contact with the patient have been identified so far by the ministry, including health personnel, hotel employees, passengers who sat two rows in front and behind the patient on the plane, and two taxi drivers.

Middle East respiratory syndrome has killed 23 people and sickened more than 160 in the past month in South Korea, in the biggest outbreak outside the region where it was first seen in 2012. More than 6,700 people are isolated at home or in medical facilities there, according to South Korea's Health Ministry.

World Health Organization head Margaret Chan on Thursday praised South Korea's efforts to contain the virus.


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/06/18/world/asia/ap-as-thailand-mers-virus.html?_r=0

Thailand confirms first MERS case as virus spreads in Asia

Thailand on Thursday said a 75-year-old man from Oman was confirmed to have MERS in Southeast Asia’s first case of the virus since an outbreak in South Korea that has killed 23 people.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) has spread at an alarmingly rapid pace in South Korea since the first case was diagnosed on May 20, infecting 165 in what is the largest outbreak outside Saudi Arabia.

Thailand, a booming medical tourism hub popular with Middle Eastern patients, announced its first positive MERS case Thursday after around 20 people earlier tested negative for the virus.

“(The man) is from a Middle Eastern country. The (test) results confirmed that he has Middle East Respiratory Syndrome,” said Rajata Rajatanavin, Thailand’s Public Health Minister, adding the patient had arrived in the kingdom with his family three days ago.

A Thai government spokesman later told reporters the man was from Oman and had travelled to a central Bangkok hospital for treatment for a heart problem.

After being tested for MERS he was moved to Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute in Nonthaburi province on the outskirts of the Thai capital Bangkok on Thursday morning.

Authorities are looking for people who were on the same flight as well as anyone else who came in contact with man during his time in Bangkok.

“We are confident that we can control the outbreak,” said spokesman Major General Sunsern Kaewkamnerd in a statement, adding that “disease control” measures were in place, including monitoring the health of his three family members.

Earlier Thursday World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan expressed guarded optimism over South Korea’s ability to contain a MERS outbreak after the WHO previously described the spread of the disease as a “wake-up call”.

– Under control –

“Our current assessment of the MERS situation in South Korea… is the government is now on a very good footing,” she told reporters, adding that the situation does not constitute an international public health emergency.

“The MERS outbreak will be brought under control… although it may take a little longer than everyone would like to see,” said Chan, who is in South Korea for a previously scheduled conference.

She said that the government had admitted it got off to a “slow start” but that its efforts strengthened “very quickly and systemically and very significantly”, resulting in a decline in new cases.

The good news is that scientists have not detected any genetic change in the virus, she said.

Chan’s comments came as South Korea’s health ministry reported three more deaths and three more cases, despite authorities saying earlier in the week that South Korea had weathered the worst of the crisis.

The WHO said Wednesday that a lack of awareness about the virus among health workers and the public was a major contributing factor to its rapid spread.

– Quarantine –

More than 6,700 people are currently being held in quarantine in South Korea in a bid to halt the spread of the virus, up three percent from Wednesday. Around 4,500 others have already been released from isolation.

But alarming reports of infected people slipping through quarantine measures have undermined government efforts to assuage public fear over a virus that has already begun hurting the country’s sagging economy.

A 41-year-old man belatedly told authorities that he developed symptoms several days earlier than he had initially reported, prompting health workers to urgently quarantine dozens of people he had come into contact with on the resort island of Jeju.

The infected man refused to stay in hospital while being tested and threw a tantrum, vowing to “spread the virus everywhere” and breaking a hospital door lock. He then took a taxi and returned home, before being forcibly put in isolation.

The last confirmed case in the country involved a 79-year-old man who had been receiving dialysis at a hospital in Seoul even after he developed MERS symptoms nine days ago.

The 111 other patients who received dialysis treatment in the same hospital room will now have to be put under quarantine, the ministry said.


http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/06/thailand-confirms-first-mers-case-as-virus-spreads-in-asia/

Slow start?

I see cover up and forced to report.

My prediction is another cluster!

SEOUL, South Korea — The head of the World Health Organization has praised beleaguered South Korean officials and exhausted health workers, saying their efforts to contain a deadly MERS virus outbreak have put the country on good footing and lowered the public risk.

Margaret Chan said it's a good sign the disease has so far been confined to a handful of hospitals and isn't spreading in the wider community.

"All the new information is reassuring, but that reassurance must be qualified," Chan said Thursday at a news conference in Seoul. She cautioned that much about MERS is unknown and there's still a need to strengthen monitoring and quarantine efforts.

Despite the optimism, there is still widespread worry here, and the discovery of new cases among people who managed to slip through quarantine measures has raised questions about officials' ability to control the outbreak.

Middle East respiratory syndrome has killed 24 people and sickened more than 160 people in South Korea, the biggest outbreak outside the region where it was first seen in 2012. However, the number of people isolated at home and in medical facilities declined from about 6,700 on Thursday to just more than 5,900 on Friday, with more than 5,500 people so far released from the quarantine, the Health Ministry said.

The daily number of new cases has been limited to single digits for most of the week, adding weight to official claims that the infections are slowing. The outbreak started a month ago with a 68-year-old man who had traveled to the Middle East.

Most of the fatalities have been people with existing medical conditions, such as respiratory problems or cancer.

Chan said South Korea's initial sluggish reaction might have contributed to the wider-than-expected spread of a virus that usually moves poorly between people. South Korean officials early on struggled to trace and identify the contacts of those infected, and their initial refusal to name the hospitals where MERS patients had been treated was blamed for fanning public fear and unwillingness to cooperate.

"After a slow start, the government put in place one of the strongest responses I've seen," Chan said.

Officials say the outbreak has already peaked and could be defused by the end of the month. Experts say the coming week will be an important indicator in determining whether the MERS outbreak will end shortly.

Critics, including Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, say government officials accelerated the spread of MERS by failing to enforce tight control measures at Seoul's Samsung Medical Center, which was belatedly shut down over the weekend because it continued to be the main source of infections.

Dozens of patients, medical staff and visitors have been infected with MERS at the hospital, one of the country's biggest, and are believed to have contacted thousands of other people before their conditions were confirmed.

The sheer size of the exposure at the hospital suggests the country could see another large wave of infections, according to Jacob Lee from the infectious disease department at Seoul's Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital.

Lee said infected medical staff at Samsung could be the next major spreaders of the virus. The country's recent MERS cases include a Samsung doctor, nurse, X-ray technician and an ambulance worker.

Government officials said they are monitoring the health of some 3,000 people who had various levels of contact with the Samsung ambulance worker, who transported dozens of patients to the hospital and used the subway to commute before his condition was confirmed. Officials are also calling and texting some 50,000 people who visited the hospital in late May and early June to ask if they are experiencing MERS-related symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath.

There is no vaccine to prevent the disease.

WHO said in a statement Wednesday that the spread of MERS in South Korea doesn't merit being declared a global emergency.

Thailand on Thursday confirmed its first MERS case, a 75-year-old man who recently arrived from Oman for treatment of a heart condition.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/chief-reassures-south-korea-mers-deaths-reach-23-31851159

Blaming Korea is a joke. What about the KSA

First Case of MERS Confirmed in Thailand, 59 People Remain Under Observation


Thai Health Ministry officials said it took them four days to verify the case, raising concerns that the deadly virus may have spread in the interim, Reuters reports.



A total of 59 people are being monitored for symptoms after coming into contact with the infected man, who is now being held in quarantine at an infectious-disease clinic. Thai Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin told Reuters that three of those under observation have already been hospitalized.


http://time.com/3927886/mers-virus-outbreak-middle-east-south-korea/

Yep! South Kirea all over again. This same scenario can or will happen in every country in the world. By the time MERS is diagnosed in a patient he will have had contact with many more people than could ever be tracked down.

JD- I couldn't agree more! This ever gets into a poor country like Pakistan, Afghanistan or Nepal where they have cold winters and poor to no health systems and it will explode!