SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean man, 61, was diagnosed with the potentially deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and is being treated at a hospital in Seoul, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Saturday.

The patient returned to Seoul on Friday after a business trip to Kuwait from August 16 to Sept. 6, according to the KCDC.

This is the first time since July 2015 that an outbreak of MERS has been reported in South Korea.

“As far as found by now, 20 people including flight attendants and medical staff have been in close contact with the patient and they are under isolation at home,” KCDC director Jeong Eun-kyeong told a press briefing.

The patient, who was suffering from diarrhea, headed directly to Samsung Medical Center from the airport, Jeong said. He is now in an isolation ward at Seoul National University Hospital.

The KCDC director said all flights from Middle East countries have been put into quarantine. “The KCDC and local governments will do our best to prevent spread of the MERS,” Jeong noted.

The infectious disease swept South Korea in 2015 leading to 38 fatalities. MERS is thought to be carried by camels and most of the known human-to-human transmission has occurred in healthcare settings.</s>SEOUL: A South Korean man, 61, was diagnosed with the potentially deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and is being treated at a hospital in Seoul, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Saturday (Sep 8).

The patient returned to Seoul on Friday after a business trip to Kuwait from Aug 16 to Sep 6, according to the KCDC.

This is the first time since July 2015 that an outbreak of MERS has been reported in South Korea. KDBD said more details would be released at a news briefing at 1030 GMT.

The infectious disease swept South Korea in 2015 leading to 38 fatalities. MERS is thought to be carried by camels and most of the known human-to-human transmission has occurred in healthcare settings.</s>SEOUL
• A South Korean man has been diagnosed with the potentially deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) and is being treated at a hospital in Seoul, the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has said.

The 61-year-old patient had been on a business trip to Kuwait from Aug 16 to Sept 6, and returned to Seoul via the United Arab Emirates last Friday, according to the KCDC.

This is the first time since July 2015 that an outbreak of Mers has been reported in South Korea, Reuters reported.

"As far as we know, 20 people, including flight attendants and medical staff, have been in close contact with the patient and they are under isolation at home," KCDC director Jeong Eun-kyeong told a press briefing yesterday.

The patient visited a local hospital during his stay in Kuwait for diarrhoea, which recurred on his way back home, the Yonhap news agency reported.

He was rushed to the emergency room of Samsung Medical Centre in Seoul after he arrived at Incheon International Airport.

He has then transferred to Seoul National University (SNU) Hospital, where he tested positive for the disease.

Dr Kim Nam-jung,who is treating the patient at the SNU Hospital, said the man is not in a critical condition now but warned that his condition could deteriorate in the next one to two weeks "judging from our experiences from the previous outbreak".

The infectious disease swept South Korea in 2015, leading to 38 fatalities. Mers is thought to be carried by camels and most of the known human-to-human transmission cases have occurred in healthcare settings.</s>The first case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus has been confirmed in South Korea since the outbreak that affected the country in 2015 leaving 187 infected and 38 dead.

‘The patient, a 61-year-old man, was diagnosed with the MERS virus on Saturday after returning from a business trip in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with transit in Kuwait, the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.’

The patient was admitted to a hospital in Kuwait when he began to show some symptoms of the disease and upon arrival to South Korea was transferred to the Samsung Medical Centre in Seoul.The hospital alerted the authorities that it could be a possible case of MERS as symptoms included high fever and pneumonia and moved the patient to the Seoul National University Hospital where he tested positive for the potentially deadly virus.Around 20 people who were in close contact with the patient, including passengers and crew members of his flight and immigration officers, have been quarantined to prevent the spread of the virus.This is the first case of MERS in South Korea since its outbreak recorded between May and December 2015, after this virus was first detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and subsequently expanded to other countries.The mortality rate of MERS in South Korea reached 20 per cent during the outbreak, below the figures between 30 and 40 per cent that were recorded in other areas.Most of the 38 deaths that occurred due to the virus in South Korea were elderly people or patients affected by other illnesses.Source: IANS</s>South Korea reports first MERS case in three years

SEOUL: South Korea reported its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in three years, health officials said on Saturday. A 61-year-old businessman was diagnosed with the highly contagious viral respiratory illness, according to officials at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). He returned to South Korea Friday from a business trip in Kuwait where he stayed for three weeks, the KCDC said a statement. “Authorities have traced and separated 20 people who have come in close contact with the infected person,” KCDC head Chung Eun-gyeong told journalists. They include medical staff, flight attendants and passengers of the plane the man flew back to South Korea on, she said. He was hospitalised with fever and phlegm and has been quarantined at a university hospital, she added. It is the first case of MERS diagnosed in South Korea since 2015, when an outbreak killed 38 people and triggered widespread panic.</s>'Authorities have traced and separated 20 people who have come in close contact with the infected person,' says the head of Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea reported its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 3 years, health officials said on Saturday, September 8.

A 61-year-old businessman was diagnosed with the highly contagious viral respiratory illness, according to officials at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

He returned to South Korea Friday from a business trip in Kuwait where he stayed for 3 weeks, the KCDC said a statement.

"Authorities have traced and separated 20 people who have come in close contact with the infected person," KCDC head Chung Eun-gyeong told journalists.

They include medical staff, flight attendants and passengers of the plane the man flew back to South Korea on, she said.

He was hospitalized with fever and phlegm and has been quarantined at a university hospital, she added.

It is the first case of MERS diagnosed in South Korea since 2015, when an outbreak killed 38 people and triggered widespread panic. – Rappler.com</s>South Korean authorities Sunday confirmed the first case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus diagnosed in a man since the outbreak that affected the country in 2015, leaving 187 infected and 38 dead.

The patient, a 61-year-old man, was diagnosed with the virus Saturday after returning from a business trip in the United Arab Emirates with transit in Kuwait, reported the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (KCDC) Sunday.</s>SEOUL:- South Korea reported its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in three years, health officials said on Saturday. A 61-year-old businessman was diagnosed with the highly contagious viral respiratory illness, according to officials at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). He returned to South Korea Friday from a business trip in Kuwait where he stayed for three weeks, the KCDC said a statement. “Authorities have traced and separated 20 people who have come in close contact with the infected person,” KCDC head Chung Eun-gyeong told journalists.</s>Health officials were last night trying to avert an outbreak of a potentially deadly African virus related to smallpox after the first person ever was diagnosed with monkeypox in the UK.

They said a Nigerian individual who flew into the UK last Sunday has been diagnosed with the bug, which kills up to one in ten of those infected. There is no vaccine.

Like Ebola, monkeypox resides in wild animals but humans can catch it through direct contact with animals, such as handling monkeys, or eating inadequately cooked meat.

It can pass from human- to-human via droplets in the air, and by touching the skin of an infected individual, or touching objects contaminated by them.

Initial symptoms include fever, headache and chills. As the illness develops large welts can appear over the face and body.

Officials from Public Health England said they were in the process of contacting people who sat near the Nigerian on the flight, who is being treated in ‘strict isolation’ at the Royal Free Hospital in North London.
A South Korean man is diagnosed with the potentially deadly MERS virus and is being treated at a hospital in Seoul, the first such case in three years.