World Health Organization
منظمة الصحة العالمية
Organisation mondiale de la Santé

Recent imported case of MERS with travel history to Kuwait proves it is still a global threat

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A joint team from WHO and Kuwait’s Ministry of Health speak with the physician who treated the Korean MERS patient. (Photo: WHO) Recent imported case of MERS with travel history to Kuwait proves it is still a global threat

In a globalized world, infectious disease outbreaks can travel between countries within hours, potentially becoming a concern for the entire world. When a 61-year old Korean man was diagnosed with the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in the Republic of Korea (RoK) on September 9, after returning from a trip to Kuwait, this was exactly the scenario that many people feared. The recent memory of 186 cases and 36 deaths that occurred in the Republic of Korea’s 2015 outbreak further added to this fear.

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