MERS in South Korea: A nosocomial case cluster

Over the last several days, many of us have been watching a rather fascinating cluster of MERS cases develop in South Korea (which has since resulted in an exportation to China, as well) [1, 2]. The index case has a very complicated travel history [3], which has made it somewhat challenging to pin-point how the cluster found its beginnings; however, since returning to South Korea, the index case has managed to infect 24 (and counting) other people (14 of whom have been lab-confirmed by the WHO) [4, 5, 6]. With little doubt, this is a textbook example of a “super-spreader event” (likely due to lapses in nosocomial infection prevention) [7].

This summary aside, I’m posting here today to share a case cluster visualization I’ve built using the wealth of information that have graciously been made public by the WHO. I’ll try to keep it updated as we learn more!