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Prior to the report of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in mid-May, more than 1000 cases of MERS had been reported from around the world since 2012. Most of these cases, about 87%, have been reported from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia). Only about 3% of the MERS cases reported through mid-May from Saudi Arabia can be can be classified as pediatric cases (cases less than 18 years old). There has been speculation that Saudi Arabia has had pediatric cases of MERS that were unreported ( link ). Through June 14, 2015, South Korea has reported 150 MERS cases. The number MERS cases reported from South Korea is second only to Saudi Arabia. Since the beginning of the outbreak in South Korea only a single pediatric MERS case has been reported, a hospitalized, 16-year-old male. As unfortunate as the outbreak in South Korea is, it provides an important data set for analyzing the nature of MERS infections. The South Korea outbr...

Currently, at least 122 people have been infected with MERS in South Korea, all from a single index case who became sick in mid-May. The index case had visited several health care facilities before being diagnosed and hospitalized. Several health care workers became infected while examining this individual prior to hospitalization. The index case exposed a number of people to the MERS coronavirus during his hospitalization. Several of these exposed individuals were released from the hospital and later became symptomatic and were later diagnosed with MERS. By that time, some these individuals had infected others and the chain of transmission began. An important component of breaking the transmission chain and containing an infectious disease outbreak is restricting its geographic spread. As of June, 11, 2015, South Korean health authorities have identified 38 hospitals where MERS patients are currently being treated or where MERS patients apparently visited prior to being diagnosed. Th...

The MERS outbreak in the Republic of Korea began when a 68-year-old man returned from visiting countries on the Arabian Peninsula in early May. He was symptomatic after returning to Korea and visited several hospitals.  He infected a few health care workers before being diagnosed with MERS and hospitalized.  Since then at least 50 people have been infected.  Some of these cases represent third generation infection; hundreds of people are currently being monitored. This outbreak is far from over. Below is a preliminary timeline of the first 35 cases reported by the Korea Ministry of Health. The data and information used here have been derived from numerous publicly available sources including WHO, various ministries of health, internet bloggers, internet forums, and other media reports available online. For some individual cases, specific details are lacking or conflicting information is presented in online reports. However, the information and graphics presented here are ...