Seoul- It can be called the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), but when the respiratory disease spreads more fear in East Asia than in the Middle East. An outbreak of the deadly virus has put many people in Korea on edge, especially as it is related to SARS, which took a heavy toll in Asia in 03 and killed more than 700 people worldwide. More than 1,000 schools and kindergartens here temporarily closed, many people wear masks, and camels in several zoos have been quarantined.
None of these measures make much sense, scientists say. The infected index cases of health care workers, patients and family members in hospital, he was treated, but nothing suggests that there is a risk of infection at school or in the street. Although camels are considered the major reservoir of the virus in the Middle East, the virus was introduced in Korea in May by a business traveler, 68, who had visited four countries in the Middle East; there is no reason to believe camels Korea spread the disease. "People must understand that this virus is not circulating in the community in Korea," said Peter Ben Embarek, the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasize MERS person. (For epidemiologists, "in the community" means outside of hospitals.)
Korean authorities raised MERS 36 cases, including three deaths. WHO has commended Korea to permanently share the number of new patients as they are diagnosed, but there was little information to put these numbers in context. "There is an urgent need to provide the public need basic information about the disease is new and mysterious for them," said Ben Embarek. In Saudi Arabia, where the virus will spread occasionally outside hospitals, schools are open and no one was panicking, he said. "the numbers are important, but we must do more than that, both nationally and internationally."
Communication seems to be a problem all around. while politicians often comment on the epidemic, some scientists involved have spoken publicly. When Korean for Disease Control and Prevention Centres (KCDC) has faced a barrage of criticism and questions today, his response was to close his Twitter account for the public. many emails science initiated KCDC and the Ministry of Health went unanswered over the past days. the fact that two of the three fatal MERS cases are not diagnosed that after the death of the patients did not inspire confidence either.
Ben Embarek said the virus was sequenced in Korea and that the sequence could soon be transferred to a public database that researchers can compare to elsewhere MERS isolated virus and spot the differences. This should happen soon, said Hakim Djaballah, head of the Institut Pasteur Korea. "It's supposed to be a sequence, but it is not found," said Djaballah. Attempts Malik Peiris of Hong Kong University to sequence the virus of a Korean patient who traveled to China were unsuccessful, said Djaballah. "there are very few viruses that patient." (Peiris could not be immediately reached for comment.)
Djaballah suspect that mutations help the virus it spreads more easily than before. "Thirty-six cases in less than a month is a lot. This virus seems to be very contagious, "he said. others are less convinced. "I do not expect big changes," says virologist Christian Drosten from the University of Bonn in Germany. one reason :. Unlike other RNA viruses, MERS has proofreading enzymes, meaning its changes very little over time and the genome even if there was a change, it is not immediately clear how important it is to spread the virus, Drosten warns.
in tweets this morning, epidemiologist David Fisman of the University of Toronto in Canada said mutations suspicions often arise when MERS is spreading rapidly, but rarely pan. major outbreaks of hospital passed before without apparent changes in hardware genetics of the virus
Without sequence information, scientists have another idea to go on :. Korea's first patient. If the source of his infection can be found, and it turns out to be something other than camels it would be an indication that Korea is really struggling with a new strain. The man visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain; Experts have retraced his steps in three of these countries in detail, but nothing indicates that it has had contact with camels and other animals, said Ben Embarek. "At this stage, it is still a mystery how he was infected."
Update, June 4, 11:30 p.m. science Insider received a response about sequencing virus Korean CDC: "We managed to isolate the virus, and the complete sequencing of the genome of the isolate was completed we expect a press release later today we shared our full sequence with US.. CDC for analysis and send our samples now uS CDC. "
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