'Children less susceptible to MERS'

The South Korean health authorities said Tuesday that children are less susceptible to the Middle East respiratory syndrome and, even if they are infected, tend to show little or no symptoms with a high recovery rate.

“When you look at the research done at Saudi Arabia, 2 percent of the MERS patients are young children. Nine showed no symptoms, had no underlying disease and fully recovered. Two of them had underlying diseases and of them one with Cystic fibrosis died,” said Dr. Kim Woo-joo, who is now the leader of the government’s MERS task force.

“In other words, children do not tend to be infected with MERS. Even if they are infected, there are no symptoms and they recover completely.”

He, however, added that children with asthma or a lung condition should take extra care.

South Korea confirmed its first teenage MERS patient, a 16-year-old high schooler who reportedly received surgery at one of the affected hospitals.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

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