Czech Republic reports first suspected MERS case

The first patient suspected of being infected with the MERS virus was hospitalized here at Na Bulovce hospital on Tuesday.

The patient is a 25-year-old Czech man who returned from a hiking trip to South Korea in late May, said Czech Health Minister Svatopluk Nemecek.

Nemecek said the results of the young man's test should be known by Wednesday morning. The man caught a cold on June 14 and a fever just under 38 degrees Celsius on June 16. He then called emergency medical services, and was transferred to the infection clinic and placed in a bio box on account of his having travelled to Korea.

According to Nemecek, the man's symptoms were "very unspecific." He stated that further action was triggered by the results of the young man's test.

If infection is confirmed, a decision is to be made on quarantine. Experts would then focus on other people, with whom the young man has had contact.

Czech chief sanitary officer Vladimir Valenta said the young man had travelled across almost the whole of South Korea, but he had not been in the Korean health care facilities where the infection occurred.

Valenta said that certain measures were being taken at airports. For example, the area where passengers from South Korea arrive are immediately cleaned up and disinfected. This also applies to toilets. Valenta said further tightening measures had not yet been planned. Endit