By Lee Kyung-min
The first patient confirmed with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Korea has fully recovered from the disease, health authorities said Monday.
The 68-year-old man was discharged from the National Medical Center (NMC) where MERS patients are being treated and was moved to a general hospital.
He is still showing symptoms of pneumonia, but tested negative for MERS in several tests after receiving treatment for more than a month, according to the NMC. His MERS infection was confirmed on May 20.
“His health condition is still not normal because he was treated for a long period of time. However, he overcame the virus,” a doctor from NMC told reporters.
He was transferred to the NMC from Samsung Medical Center where he was diagnosed with the virus.
Meanwhile, a female lung cancer patient has fully recovered from MERS.
The 42-year-old woman reportedly had two liver cancer operations in 2011 and 2013 before being diagnosed with lung cancer in May. This is the first case in which a cancer patient fully recovered from the virus, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
She was confirmed with the disease on June 8 while staying in SMC’s emergency room with the 14th patient, the so-called super spreader who infected more than 80 people.
After almost three weeks of treatment, she was released from the hospital on June 27.
The ministry said her case is notable because it defies the widespread notion that MERS is fatal to patients with serious illnesses such as cancer.
Indeed, most of the deaths were those of people with a history of cancer or respiratory problems, or the very old.
“Her case gives hope to those with compromised or weakened immune systems,” a ministry official said.
In contrast, three MERS patients who never had any history of medical problems failed to overcome the disease.
They include a 55-year-old man who died, Sunday. He had never suffered from any major illness.
His death comes more than two weeks after being confirmed with the disease on June 9. He contracted it on May 27 after staying in the SMC emergency room.
The other two cases were a 62-year-old man and a 58-year-old man.