Schools close as MERS virus spreads in South Korea

MERS, which has no known cure or vaccine, is considered a deadlier but less infectious cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Did I read that right? Deadlier? This morning on the Japanese yahoo website I read that a health official in S.korea has come under fire for saying that it's not an emergency unless 3 million people get infected. I say this should be considered an emergency now.

Latest news : 398 suspected of being infected. Yesterday they said 25!

If it's deadlier than SARS (regardless of being less infectious) it should be declared an emergency YESTERDAY.

Guys, the virus seems to have mutated itself. They're more highly infectious, but less deadlier. It's acting like the regular flu. So far only two patients have died, out of 1400 who are being quarantined. Both of the dead are elderly with weak immune systems who were being treated in the hospital where the infection broke out. The 40% death rates come from the Middle East where medical establishments are in bad conditions. The death rates in S.Korea is nowhere near 40%, so far. The two deaths were old people one with stroke coming out of surgery recuperating, while the other one is a 57 year old who suffered from chronic severe asthma. I bet you the only ones who will be endangered are those elderly population who have underlying medical problems, with weaker immune systems. It's no different from the flu, and the media in South Korea are probably over-reacting. Those quarantined people who have no underlying medical problems are doing fine, with mild flu like symptoms.

I was scheduled to be in Seoul on business next week - today we rescheduled for September.

If you have travel plans that include South Korea over the next month or two, reschedule or get a contingency plan together. If nothing else, this has the potential for travel chaos over the next few weeks.

How is it pronounced? Surely ME is メ so the me as in merchant? All the Japanese are pronouncing it マ as in the ma in Mars.

The official IPAC pronunciation is MERS (rhymes with purrs). No idea how that has become Mars in Japanese.

How is it pronounced? Surely ME is メ so the me as in merchant? All the Japanese are pronouncing it マ as in the ma in Mars.

@YongYang. You're correct. This is why katakana is so useless and screwed up. Only making sense to japanese who's pronunciation of foreign acronyms are comprehended amongst themselves.

Thank you Dr. Hotmail. So only the weak and the elderly will die. What a relief!

@Smith, good point. Remembering when SARS shut down schools etc. BTW, where's your usual thumbs down stalkers? Have they given up? I've never seen a poster get so many thumbs down for no reason whatsoever, other than the stalking angle.