S. Korean Doctor Couple under MERS Suspicion Visit Philippines

Seoul (PNA/Xinhua) — A South Korean doctor couple, who treated a MERS infectee and were placed under self-quarantine, visited the Philippines from Saturday to Sunday, multiple local media reported Monday.

The couple, who have their respective clinics in Sunchang, North Jeolla Province, left for the Philippines Saturday and returned back to South Korea Sunday, according to the Sunchang county’s health center.

The husband, who is an orthopedic surgeon, treated a 72-year-old woman who visited his clinic on June 2 for a sore back.

The same woman consulted the surgeon’s wife, the head of an internal medicine clinic near her husband’s hospital, on June 4 when she began to have high fever.

On Sunday, this 72-year-old woman was confirmed positive for the MERS, or the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

The infectee went back to her home in Sunchang after she was discharged on May 21 from Pyeongtaek St. Mary’s Hospital, where 37 people contracted the virus. The whole village has been quarantined to prevent further spread of the virus.

The husband doctor, living in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, departed for the Philippines with his wife Saturday though he already knew Friday that he was put under self-quarantine at home for MERS contagion, according to local media News1.

The husband doctor called for his exclusion from the self-quarantine list as he showed no symptom and then left for the Philippines, an official at the Sunchang county’s health center was quoted by the media as saying.

The wife doctor was later placed under isolation after she was found to have directly treated the MERS-infected woman.

The health authorities were quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying that the husband doctor was not reached on Saturday and the self-quarantine notice was sent to his mobile phone.

The doctor couple violently reacted to the self-quarantine notice as they showed no symptom and have little possibility for the MERS infection, Yonhap reported.

As of Monday, MERS infections in South Korea surged to 87 as 23 new cases were identified. The country became the world’s most MERS-contagious except Saudi Arabia, where more than 1,000 cases were detected. (PNA/Xinhua) FFC/SSC