MERS Virus Thailand: Officials Confirm 2nd Case, 37 People Monitored

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Thailand's Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayador has confirmed on Sunday the existence of another case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS) in Thailand, Reuters reports.

According to the news outlet, Sakolsatayador confirmed in a conference that the second patient infected with MERS virus was a 71-year-old Omani man who was traveling to Bangkok.

Bangkok Post reports that the MERS patient was previously hospitalized for almost a week in Oman for cough and fever before he headed to Bangkok. He was detected with MERS at Bamrungrad and Chulalongkorn hospitals.

The man underwent a couple of tests over the weekend at Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute and Medical Science Department, which both confirmed that the Omani man is positive with MERS.

"After taking a taxi to a hotel, he was checked for the virus at a hospital and the MERS virus was found. This case was found quickly, so the public should not panic," Sakolsatayador said as quoted by Reuters.

Sakolsatayador further told the Bangkok Post that the Omani patient is currently being held under quarantine at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute of the Diseases Control Department.

It can be remembered that the first case of MERS was also detected in an Omani businessman last year. The said patient survived the disease, per Reuters.

Thailand's Public Health Ministry has identified the people who might have contact with the second MERS patient and is actively looking for them. They will be under quarantine for 14 days for observation to see if anyone of them has been infected, according to the Bangkok Post.

These individuals include everyone who might have encountered the Omani man during his travel to Bangkok, including the 218 crew and passengers who are in Thailand, the taxi driver who drove him upon arrival to the country, a hotel staff and 30 hospital employees. Also included is a relative of the patient who accompanied him. The Public Health Ministry identified 37 of these people to be high risk.

According to Medical News Today, MERS is a viral respiratory disease that might have originated from an animal. The first case of MERS in humans happened in Saudi Arabia back in 2012. MERS has similar symptoms like pneumonia and has similar symptoms like the Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Most common symptoms of MERS include fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit and up), cough, chills, chest and body pain, difficulty in breathing, headache, diarrhea, sore throat, to name a few.