South Korea Confirms 3 Cases of Mideast Respiratory Virus
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said Thursday it has confirmed three cases of a respiratory virus that has killed hundreds of people in the Middle East.

A 76-year-old man was diagnosed Thursday with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The patient shared a hospital room with a man who was South Korea's first confirmed case of MERS, agency chief Yang Byung-Guk told reporters.

The first patient was not isolated initially because it wasn't known why he was ill.

Yang said the first patient had visited Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. His wife also contracted the disease.

All three are being treated in hospitals and they are not in critical condition, according to Yang's agency.

Additionally, 64 hospital workers and family members of the confirmed MERS patients have been quarantined, Yang said.

MERS was discovered in 2012 and has mostly been centered in Saudi Arabia. It belongs to the family of coronaviruses that includes the common cold and SARS, and can cause fever, breathing problems, pneumonia and kidney failure. The virus is thought to be primarily acquired through contact with camels, but it can also spread from human fluids and droplets. A number of cases in Saudi Arabia have involved health workers caring for MERS patients.

There have been a total of 1,142 cases of the virus worldwide and 465 have died, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Of the fatalities, 428 have been in Saudi Arabia.

中東類SARS 南韓確診3例 64人隔離

南韓廿日出現首例「中東呼吸症候群冠狀病毒」（MERS-CoV）確診病例，該名男患者曾赴中東地區，並傳染給妻子及同房一病患，目前共三人感染，六十四人隔離。專家表示無大規模感染可能，呼籲南韓民眾勿恐慌。

南韓衛生部表示，這名南韓首例MERS病患是六十八歲男子，他於上月十八日至本月三日赴巴林、沙烏地阿拉伯及阿拉伯聯合大公國從事農業相關工作，四日經卡達返國。

男子發病後出現高燒及咳嗽症狀，廿日轉院至疾病防治中心（CDC）直轄醫院並確診感染，照顧他的六十三歲妻子及同病房的七十六歲男病患亦出現症狀，兩人廿一日確診，皆發高燒，所幸沒有呼吸困難情形。曾與三名病患接觸的親友及醫護人員共六十四人已隔離觀察。

廿日出現首例MERS後，南韓立即將警戒層級提高一級至第三高的「注意」（caution），所有主要港口立即設置隔離區與檢查關卡。CDC廿一日晚間舉行專家會議，考慮將警戒提升至第二高的「警示」（alert）層級。

負責治療病患的感染專家表示：「首例病患正逐漸康復，呼吸已較順暢。」衛生部說，相關人員皆已隔離，並無疾病擴散風險。

據世界衛生組織（WHO）統計，自2012年九月發現全球首例MERS迄本月十八日為止，全球共有1118名確診病例，有423人死亡。

MERS是與2003年肆虐兩岸三地的「嚴重急性呼吸道症候群」（SARS）相似的病毒，潛伏期二至十四天，致死率高達四成，目前無特定療法，也無疫苗。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/05/21/world/asia/ap-as-skorea-mers-virus.html

2015-05-22．聯合報．A1．要聞．編譯莊蕙嘉