Health, airport officials monitoring MERS outbreak in S. Korea

CNMI health officials and airport authorities are implementing precautionary measures in the wake of a MERS outbreak in South Korea, which is the CNMI’s biggest source market for tourist arrivals.

MERS is a lethal respiratory disease. It is a viral respiratory illness that is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS that killed over 700 people in 2003.

Public Health and Hospital Preparedness Program director Warren Villagomez said the program is updated with the MERS issue along with the Infectious Disease Task Force.

“We are developing risk communication messaging and we’re going to be communicating with the Marianas Visitors Authority, Commonwealth Ports Authorities, and U.S Customs and Border Protection about this situation,” Villagomez said.

“We have communicated with the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention’s field epidemiology office in Guam regarding MERS and right now CDC is not recommending any type of active screening anywhere because South Korea is doing a good job in regards to handling and care of MERS and the individuals and cases,” he added.

Villagomez said he is in constant contact with Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.’s public health medical director Dr. Daniel Lamar and CHCC’s new CNMI epidemiology Dr. Ginny Montero.

“We’re going to be posting risk communication messaging at the airport and into the community as well because the amount of Korean visitors that we get, we need to make sure that our visitor is safe and our community is safe,” he said.

The planning is an ongoing procedure as well as the public health screening area.

“We are moving forward with the screening, isolation, and quarantine for CHCC public health personnel to be actively present at the airport,” Villagomez said.

CDC recently equipped the airport with five television sets, called travel alert monitors, which are for public health awareness and for evolving diseases that could be a potential threat to the CNMI.

“We are on top of CDC and the World Health Organizations guidelines so we are on top of both guidance and will be available to us to work with. We are also in contact with Guam Public Health to communicate,” Villagomez said.

Montero updated Villagomez in regards to the number of passengers. If the passengers are more than 200 then they will be put into “alert” and contact CPA.

Montero drafted the forms with regards to MERS.

“The forms would go to USCBP and we would collect the forms at the end of each week. The thing is we mentioned on the form that if there is MERS, contact CHCC immediately,” she said.

MERS spreads from ill people to others through close contact, such as caring for or living with an infected person.

Symptoms of MERS are fever, cough, and short of breath. Some have also experienced gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhea and nausea/vomiting. For many people, according to CDC, more severe complications followed such as pneumonia and kidney failure.

About 3 to 4 out of every 10 people reported with MERS have died.