By CS Thana
BANGKOK
Thailand has reported its first confirmed case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus.
Late Thursday, the Ministry of Public Health told a press conference that a 75-year-old Middle Eastern man who had traveled to the country has been identified as having MERS.
The man is currently being quarantined at Bamrasbaradura Infectious Diseases Hospital in central Nonthaburi province.
The ministry added that three more people who have been in contact with the man have also been quarantined as a precaution.
It said that they are monitoring an additional 56 people and tracking their progress.
Worldwide, 458 people have died from MERS since 2012.
Experts believe that the illness can incubate for up to two weeks before symptoms appear -- but the World Health Organization admitted Wednesday that “there are still many gaps in knowledge regarding the transmission of this virus between people.”
It appears to be spread among people in respiratory droplets, although most infections have occurred in those who had close contact with MERS patients.
More than two dozen countries have reported cases, including the South Korea, U.S., Britain, France and Germany.
Earlier Thursday, South Korea's health ministry announced that the virus had claimed 23 lives and infected 165 people locally.
The South Korean government has come under criticism for failing to take sufficient measures to initially contain the disease when the country's first infection was reported last month -- in a man who had returned from the Middle East.
