CRI听力:Expert: Limited Human-Human MERS Infections Likely

A 44-year-old man from South Korea is being treated in isolation.

Medical staff say he suffers from a high fever and a possibly infectious pneumonia.

According to authorities, the man had close contact with his father and sister, the third and fourth MERS cases diagnosed in South Korea.

He Jianfeng is from the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention and says the family fell ill after the father spent time in the hospital.

"His father once shared a ward with South Korea's first MERS case. Before coming to China, the man and his sister attended to their father many times. Researchers are striving to figure out from whom he caught the disease. But all evidence available indicates limited human to human transmissions are likely."

The man first expressed discomfort over a week ago. He flew from South Korea to Hong Kong on Tuesday and later arrived in Huizhou via Shenzhen.

Huizhou authorities put him under observation early on Thursday. 38 others who had close contact with the man have also been isolated.

A team of experts from the national and provincial epidemic prevention departments is assisting the treatment and prevention of the disease in Huizhou.

He Jianfeng admits it's possible others may have been infected.

"We have assessed the possibility of the virus' spread. Judging from current conditions, there may be more cases. Before we found him, he had taken long-distance buses, stayed in hotels and attended conferences. It's possible that infections had occurred during any of these processes."

Of the 38 known contacts, no unusual findings have been reported so far.

Lin Jinyan is from Guangdong's provincial disease prevention center.

"None of the 38 quarantined has tested positive for the virus or showed symptoms. We check their conditions twice a day. A quarantine period lasts 14 days. Some people will soon be released while some others may be brought in. It's a normal procedure for epidemic disease monitoring. We are making every effort to lower the possibility of an outbreak."

The number of South Koreans infected with MERS has increased to 12, including the man in China.

On Friday, Hong Kong authorities announced they had found 18 people who had close contact with the man.

All of them will be under observation for 14 days.

The Health Protection Center also confirmed that at least ten of the nearly 200 people who were either on the same plane or buses with the South Korean man have left Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Macau has started to monitor the temperatures of flight passengers from Korea and the Middle East as a precaution against the disease.

MERS was first identified in humans three years ago.

It is caused by a corona-virus from the same family as the one that triggered China's deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, more than a decade ago.

There is no cure or vaccine for the disease. It has a fatality rate of about 40 percent.

Before the outbreak this time, more than 1,100 MERS cases had been reported in 23 countries, while over 460 had died of it.

For CRI, I'm Zhao Jianfu.