The number of South Koreans infected with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) increased to nine Friday, just nine days after the first case was reported, the health ministry said.
Two new cases were confirmed positive for the deadly viral disease, including a nurse who treated the first patient and a male who was hospitalized at the same ward with the patient zero, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The eighth case was the 30-year-old nurse who treated the patient zero. She had been initially tested negative on Tuesday, but an additional test confirmed her positive for the MERS corona virus Thursday.
The ninth patient was a 56-year-old man who shared the same ward with the first patient.
The number of infectees rose rapidly to nine just nine days after the patient zero was confirmed positive on May 20.
The first patient was an unidentified 68-year-old male who traveled to the Middle Eastern region before returning to South Korea on May 4. His wife became the second patient who contracted the deadly virus.
The third infectee was a 76-year-old man who shared a hospital room with the first patient, and his daughter who attended to the third patient became the fourth.
The doctor, who examined the patient zero earlier this month, became the fifth. The sixth case was a 71-year-old male who was hospitalized at the same ward with the patient zero, and the seventh was a 28-year-old nurse who treated the first patient.
The MERS is a respiratory illness caused by a new type of corona-virus. The first case was found in Saudi Arabia in 2012. There is no vaccine or treatment for the disease, with its fatality rate reaching 40.7 percent.
