Plasma recovered in Korea is being tested for MERS

    In June 2015, the MERS coronavirus claimed the lives of twenty people in South Korea, more than one hundred and sixty people were infected, and five and a half thousand patients, their relatives and medical staff are under quarantine. The World Health Organization held an emergency meeting.

    In Germany, a 69-year-old man, who arrived from the United Arab Emirates and was hospitalized on June 6, died on June 16.

    In Korea, they began experimental treatment of the disease, for which there are currently no drugs or vaccines.

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    Following an emergency meeting, WHO released a list of factors contributing to the spread of coronavirus in South Korea. The reasons for the spread were the lack of public awareness and medical workers about MERS, insufficientcontrol measures in medical institutions , close contact of infected people with other people, including frequent visits to relatives, patients visiting several hospitals. WHO does not recommend restrictions on tourist and trade flows and considers reporting on the Middle East respiratory syndrome as a sufficient measure.

    It was previously reported that 50% of MERS infected in South Korea with the MERS virus were infected when they visited the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul. Specialists noted single cases of infection outside medical institutions.

    According to the committee, the virus has not mutated since 2012. The mechanism of transmission of coronavirus from person to person is still unclear.

    Doctors in South Korea start experimental treatment with plasmacured patients. Two patients were transfused with plasma in different hospitals , but will continue to use other treatments. Scientists do not have data on the effectiveness of the method, but in this way mortality from SARS was reduced by 23%.
    The virus that caused SARS is related to the MERS virus. Examining SARS, we obtained data that can be applied in the study of MERS. In particular, there are ideas about which medicines could be used for treatment. Now under the auspices of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), several working groups are developing vaccines. They have already achieved some success, but for use in clinical practice it still requires a lot of time and work. Head of the Institute of Virology, University Clinic Bonn Christian Drosten (Christian Drosten)

    There is no vaccine against the MERS virus, and the mortality rate at the moment is about 35%. At risk are people with weakened immune systems, chronic lung diseases, diabetes and kidney failure. The youngest patient who died of an illness in South Korea was 49 years old. In Germany, on June 16, a 69-year-old man died after traveling to the UAE.

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