‘Super-spreader’ patient

Tracing the movements of patients at a South Korean hospital has helped identify how the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus was transmitted from a single super-spreader patient in an overcrowded emergency room to 82 individuals over three days, including patients, visitors and health-care workers. The study, published 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 West Asia, a note from the journal said. The study demonstrates the potential for outbreaks of MERS Coronavirus from a single spreader, as has been previously documented for SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). The authors say that as long as the MERS transmission in West Asia continues, governments and health-care providers should be prepared for emerging infections.

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