Mers patient fever-free, but 12 high-risk contacts gone

Mers patient fever-free, but 12 high-risk contacts gone

Tourist police and health officials distribute face masks to tourists and advise on precautions against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome at the MBK shopping centre in Bangkok on Wednesday. (Photo by Jiraporn Kuhakan)
Tourist police and health officials distribute face masks to tourists and advise on precautions against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome at the MBK shopping centre in Bangkok on Wednesday. (Photo by Jiraporn Kuhakan)

The 71-year-old Omani man who became Thailand's second Middle East Respiratory Syndrome patient is now fever-free, but a dozen people considered at high risk of catching the virus from him already have left the country, a health official said. =

Dr Amnuay Gajeena, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said on Wednesday that the patient being treated at the Public Health Ministry's Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute in Nonthaburi province remained short of breath and dependent on oxygen, but was free of fever and could eat and walk. He remains in isolation.

Of 40 others who had been in close contact with the patient, 12 tested negative for Mers and have departed the country. The other 28 at high risk of infection remained quarantined, he said.

They comprised a relative of the patient, two taxi drivers, four hotel staffers, 11 hospital employees, and 10 airline passengers, Dr Amnuay said.

The Omani and his son arrived in Thailand on Friday. He was admitted to Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok early Saturday.

A week prior to his arrival, he had received treatment at a hospital in Oman but his condition had not improved and he flew to the country with a fever and cough.

He was transferred to the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute on Saturday evening after his Mers infection was confirmed at Bumrungrad.

The first Mers case in Thailand also was an Omani man, aged 75. He was confirmed with the disease in mid-June. He was cured at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute and released in early July.

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