Surveillance operation for the 141st confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus in response to the patient’s prior travel to Jeju Island
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Communicable diseases, Epidemiology, Public Health Surveillance
The provincial government of Jeju, South Korea, was notified that a 42-year-old man infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus had gone sightseeing in Jeju Island. Although the visiting period might be interpreted as the incubation period of MERS, the province decided to conduct active surveillance to prevent a worst-case scenario. Based on the channel of movement of the patient, healthy isolation and active monitoring were conducted for persons who came in contact with the patient. During the active surveillance, none of the 56 persons in self-isolation and 123 persons under active monitoring became infected. This fact supports that MERS is not contagious during the incubation period.