hankyoreh

South Korea’s National Medical Center

Two weeks after the first person tested positive for the novel coronavirus in South Korea, one of the patients has improved to such an extent that the authorities are considering discharging him from the hospital. The patient in question is a 55-year-old South Korean man who was diagnosed on Jan. 24 as the second case in the country. The first patient, a 35-year-old Chinese woman, has also apparently recovered enough to go about her daily routine with little trouble.

“There has been a major improvement in the second patient’s pneumonia symptoms as well as [the results of] various tests, so we’ve stopped administering antiviral drugs and are monitoring his situation,” said Chung Eun-gyeong, head of South Korea’s central disease control headquarters, during a briefing at the Government Complex Sejong on Feb. 3.

The results were also negative when this patient was subjected to a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. The first patient’s symptoms of pneumonia have disappeared almost entirely. The disease control headquarters said that, overall, the rest of the confirmed patients are also in stable condition.

The disease control headquarters’ current policy is that, once a patient’s clinical symptoms, such as pneumonia, have improved and they test negative on two PCR tests at an interval of 24 hours, they can be released from the hospital. But Chung said, “We’ll be consulting with experts about whether to apply the current policy or to adjust it in light of fresh knowledge and will decide on whether to release the patients and, if so, at what time, after that.”

“There were two negative results on the PCR test, which was the standard for discharging patients during the MERS [Middle East Respiratory Syndrome] outbreak,” said Chung Gi-hyeon, director of the National Medical Center (where the second patient is hospitalized), in a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh on Monday.

But Chung also noted that “patients who have been quarantined for treatment of the disease could face psychological and mental difficulties” and explained that they would need to receive continuing treatment and be kept under observation even after their discharge. “The patients can’t be discharged until we’ve developed a plan for their subsequent management. That’s a question that the medical staff is wrestling with,” the director added.

Most of the 15 patients that have been diagnosed in South Korea so far were identified at an early stage of the disease. Their condition tended to begin with coughing that led to pneumonia, and their symptoms were reportedly weak in comparison with the severe pneumonia shown by X-ray imaging.

According to an analysis by the disease control headquarters, 10 of the 15 patients, or two-thirds, are men, with an average age of 42.9 years. Ten of the patients contracted the virus in China or Japan, while the remaining five are cases of secondary transmission in South Korea. The patients are being treated for the symptoms and, when necessary, are also being administered antibiotics to prevent secondary transmission. There has also been some use of the antiretrovirals typically used to treat HIV. The patients are staying at state-designated facilities for hospitalization and treatment, including Incheon Medical Center, the National Medical Center, Myongji Hospital, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, and Seoul Medical Center.

“Looking at China, older patients, those 65 years old and above, with underlying conditions have more serious symptoms and a worse prognosis. Since we’re still in the initial phase with the 15 patients [in South Korea], I can’t definitively say how long the treatment period will last,” Chung said.

An analysis by the Chinese health authorities shows that a majority of the deceased were elderly individuals with underlying conditions. The disease control headquarters will soon be carrying out an analysis of domestic patients with clinical experts and then releasing the results.

No additional cases were confirmed on Monday. As of that morning, the disease control headquarters had carried out diagnostic tests of 490 individuals with suspicious symptoms. The tests came back negative for 414 of those individuals, who were then released from quarantine, while 61 are still being tested.

By Park Da-hae, staff reporters

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