MP647OUTCOMES OF HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS WITH MERS-COV EXPOSURE IN KOREA

Abstract

Introduction and Aims: A large outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus (MERS-CoV) infection occurred in Korea from May until early July 2015. There have been 186 laboratory-confirmed cases with healthcare facilities, including one case with maintenance hemodialysis (HD). Strategies to contain MERS-CoV depend on knowledge of the rate of human-to-human transmission. There has been no targeted study of secondary transmission in HD unit. Methods: We studied HD clusters that were incidentally exposed to patients or health care workers with confirmed MERS-CoV infection. Probable cases of secondary transmission were identified on the basis of reactivity in two reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assays with independent RNA extraction from respiratory secretions. Results: One hundred twenty-five patients and twenty health care workers were exposed to MERS-CoV in three HD units. In our study population, we did not found secondary transmission of MERS-CoV in HD units in spite of different isolation practices (Table). Conclusions: A lot of cases acquired by person-to-person transmission in HD units in other countries, whereas no secondary transmission was occurred in Korea. To determine the best isolation system in HD units, the cost-effectiveness analysis of different strategies and MERS-CoV serological study for asymptomatic infections are needed. (Table presented).