Pregnant Woman Tests Positive for MERS

A pregnant woman in her 40s has tested positive for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome after accompanying her mother to the emergency room of Samsung Medical Center in Seoul on May 27.

The woman later complained of muscle aches and was tested for MERS. She had apparently been infected by the country's 14th confirmed MERS patient at the hospital.

The pregnant woman did not show other symptoms such as a high fever or breathing difficulty, Samsung Medical Center said Tuesday. She is due to deliver her baby next week.

Samsung Medical Center said the woman is staying in a quarantined ward where there is "no chance" of infecting other patients.

Park Moon-il at Dongtan Jeil Women's Hospital said, "The immune system weakens during pregnancy and expecting mothers with prior health problems are more vulnerable. But there is no evidence that pregnant women are more susceptible to MERS, so there is no need to panic. The best thing to do is to have regular medical check-ups."

Kim Woo-joo of the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases, said, "The pregnant patient must be given drugs to lower her fever and other treatment, but doctors should first check if antiviral drugs can have a negative effect on the fetus."

According to the World Health Organization, a 32-year-old MERS patient in the United Arab Emirates gave birth by Caesarean section in 2013. The baby tested negative for MERS, but the mother died a day later.

Meanwhile, a Chinese woman in her 60s was confirmed to have been infected with MERS here. She is a caretaker at Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital south of Seoul.