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First MERS-infected teenager reported in South Korea

June 7, 2015

A passenger wears a mask as a precaution against the MERS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, virus on a subway train in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, June 7, 2015. A fifth person in South Korea has died of the MERS virus, as the government announced Sunday it was strengthening measures to stem the spread of the disease and public fear.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

(Yonhap) — A 16-year-old has been diagnosed with MERS in the first such case for a teenager in South Korea, the Education Ministry said Monday.

The boy was diagnosed with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, a potentially deadly illness, at Samsung Seoul Hospital where he had been hospitalized since May 27 for a different illness.

The student at a high school in southern Seoul underwent a procedure a day later and started exhibiting MERS-like symptoms last Monday, a ministry official said, adding that no other student has been affected.

On Sunday, education officials ordered that all kindergartens and elementary schools in the wealthy Seoul districts of Gangnam and Seocho cancel classes until Wednesday. More than 54,000 children will be affected.

The move came after a doctor at Samsung Seoul Hospital, part of the Samsung Medical Center complex, in Gangnam was found to have come into contact with more than 1,500 people in Seoul while showing MERS-like symptoms late last month. He was later diagnosed with the disease.

It is the first time that a municipal office of education issued such an order as schools had previously been allowed to determine independently whether to shut down.

MERS is a viral respiratory disease that has affected 87 people in South Korea since its first outbreak on May 20. Six people have died.

Samsung Seoul Hospital is one of 24 medical facilities around the country that have reported MERS-related deaths or patients.