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fork(2) [soylentnews.org] writes:

      An article for anyone concerned about MERS [who.int]... and anyone who routinely has to visit the ER [healthgrove.com]. From ScienceDaily [sciencedaily.com]

Since it was first identified in 2012, MERS-CoV has spread to 27 countries. Patients develop severe acute respiratory illness with symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath. Approximately 3-4 out of every 10 patients reported with MERS-CoV have died, most of whom had an underlying medical condition.

      Previous studies have suggested that the potential for MERS-CoV to spread to large numbers of people was low. However, an outbreak in Saudi Arabia in 2013 saw one patient transmit the virus to seven others, raising concerns about so-called super-spreaders -- patients who infect disproportionally more secondary contacts than others also infected with the same disease.

      Between May and July 2015 there was an outbreak of MERS-CoV in South Korea. The authors trace back that outbreak and study "how Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus was transmitted from a single super-spreader patient in an overcrowded emergency room to a total of 82 individuals over three days including patients, visitors and health-care workers. The study, published today [July 10] in The Lancet, maps the transmission of South Korea's first outbreak of MERS virus and the case of highest transmission of MERS virus from a single patient outside the Middle East."

Original Submission