MERS coronavirusWIKIMEDIA, NIHAt least 25 people in South Korea have been infected with the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) as part of a “superspreading event” following the introduction of the pathogen to the country last month, ScienceInsider reported this week (June 2). As South Korean health officials work to trace the contacts of all patients, more than 200 schools have been closed and 1,300 people quarantined, The Washington Post reported yesterday (June 3). In its latest press release on the ongoing outbreak in the country, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that “aggressive contact tracing and testing for infection” could help explain the doubling in reported cases. WHO added that, while cases of human-to-human transmission have been documented, there is no evidence of sustained transmission of MERS-CoV in the community.
WHO’s Peter Ben Embarek told ScienceInsider that South Korean officials have agreed to share samples with labs at Hong Kong University and Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for viral sequence analysis.
