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MERS-Epidemiologic Investigation
Epidemiological investigation of the 119th confirmed Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus case with an indefinite mode of transmission during the Pyeongtaek outbreak in Korea
Jong Hyuk Choi, Byoungin Yoo, Soon Young Lee, Eun Gyu Lee, Moran Ki, Woncheol Lee, Jong Rak Jung, Kyujin Chang
Epidemiol Health. 2015;37:e2015054.   Published online December 10, 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4178/epih/e2015054
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Abstract
Since the first case was diagnosed on May 20, 2015, there were 186 confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) until the end of outbreak in South Korea. Although medical institutions were the most identifiable sources of MERS transmission in South Korea, similar to other countries, in-depth epidemiological investigation was required for some confirmed cases with indefinite contact history or hospital visit records. The subject of epidemiological investigation in the present study was a 35 year-old male patient diagnosed with MERS (#119) who lived in Asan-city and worked in Pyeongtaek-city. Various potential sources of transmission were carefully investigated. While he could have been exposed to MERS through a friend from Saudi Arabia or confirmed MERS cases in his workplace, neighboring areas, and medical institutions, as well as contacts in his home, the chances of transmission were low; however, the potential for transmission through his local community could not be excluded. Practically, it was difficult to determine the modes of transmission for all outbreak cases in communicable disease that occurred in this short period of time. The investigation to identify the mode of transmission in this case was ultimately unsuccessful. However, the various data collected and analyzed to reveal modes of transmission provided detailed information that could not be collected using only interview surveys.
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Korean summary
2015년 한국에서 유행한 메르스 환자들 중, 감염 경로가 불분명한 119번째 환자에 대한 심층 역학조사를 통해 다양한 감염경로의 가능성을 검토하였다. 감염경로를 명확하게 밝혀내지 못한 한계점이 있지만, 지역사회 전파에 대한 가능성을 제시하였다. 감염병 대유행시 효율적인 감염경로 파악을 위해서는 다방면의 자료에 대한 확보체계와 이를 신속히 분석하고 판단할 수 있는 전문 인력 확충이 필요하다.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  
  • A database of geopositioned Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus occurrences
    Rebecca E. Ramshaw, Ian D. Letourneau, Amy Y. Hong, Julia Hon, Julia D. Morgan, Joshua C. P. Osborne, Shreya Shirude, Maria D. Van Kerkhove, Simon I. Hay, David M. Pigott
    Scientific Data.2019;[Epub]     CrossRef

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