Kuwaiti teenager becomes third MERS case in Thailand
Thailand has found a third case of the Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus (MERS-CoV) in an 18-year-old Kuwaiti man, Disease Control Department (DCD) chief Amnuay Kajeena revealed Saturday.
The incident prompted the DCD to set up a special coordination centre at its head office to trace those exposed to him, including those on the same flight.
The patient, who entered Thailand on July 25 along with his father and grandmother, was being treated in an isolated room while the two relatives as well as a taxi driver were put on quarantine. After 14 days, when the patient’s condition improves and he is cured of the infection, he would be allowed to go home, Amnuay added.
Amnuay said the family had come to seek treatment for the grandmother’s knee problem when her grandson developed flu-like symptoms on July 26. The private hospital that treated the grandmother collected his sample for lab test, which showed the next day that he had MERS-CoV.
The DCD stepped in and took the man for treatment to an isolated room at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute in Nonthaburi last Thursday.
