2015年CRI 韩国报告MERS第六例死亡

 

On Monday morning, a man in his 80s became the latest victim to die of MERS-related complications in Daejeon, about 140km south of Seoul. He was hospitalized for pneumonia¹ and was being treated alongside another patient suffering from MERS, when he was infected.

This incident raises another red flag, on the way hospitals are handling the outbreak.

All the infections in South Korea have occurred in hospitals with transmission occurring between patients, their families and medical staff.

More than 23 people were confirmed to have contracted the disease just on Sunday.

This is the biggest single-day jump in MERS infections so far.

Seventeen of these 23 new cases were infected at the Samsung Medical Centre in Seoul and this is one of the largest hospitals in the country, highlighting the severity of the problem.

From just four cases two weeks ago, this brings the total number of infections to 87.

Hospitals have been criticized for not doing enough to contain the spread of the disease internally.

But Jeong Eun-Kyeon Director of the national Disease Prevention Center in South Korea says they are taking drastic measures including tracking those placed under quarantine.

"We did cellphone tracking in a couple of cases. For those that we must find, we will request location tracking and receive data. We are actively² tracing their locations through cooperation with police or using other methods."

Despite the strict monitoring, local health officials have fine around 10 people who had broken quarantine.

About 2,300 people have been quarantined so far and over 1,800 schools have been closed since Monday.

Yoo Young-deuk, a high school student in Gyeonggi province, the area outside Seoul where the outbreak started says this new containment³ strategy was essential, although it disrupted his studies just a few months before the national university entrance exam.

"I am really thankful for the school taking preventative measures so that we can feel safe at school. Even though the MERS is a scary disease that has a high fatality⁴ rate, I feel relieved due to these preventative measures taken by the school."

The rapid spread of MERS in South Korea has resulted in the biggest outbreak of the virus outside Saudi Arabia, where it was discovered three years ago.

The virus is considered a deadlier but less infectious cousin of the severe acute respiratory syndrome⁵ or SARS, which killed hundreds of people when it appeared in Asia in 2003.

The epidemic⁶ is already putting a strain on the South Korean economy, with another possible rate cut expected this week.

A team of experts from the World Health Organization are due to begin work on Tuesday to evaluate South Korea's response to the outbreak.

For CRI I'm Poornima Weerasekara.

1 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

2 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

3 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

4 fatality   

n.不幸，灾祸，天命

参考例句：

• She struggle against fatality in vain.她徒然奋斗反抗宿命。
• He began to have a growing sense of fatality.他开始有一种越来越强烈的宿命感。

5 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

6 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。