SEOUL, June 16 (UPI) -- South Korea continued to battle the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in Asia's fourth-largest economy by using an old tactic against the unfamiliar disease: plasma treatment.
Seoul's Health Ministry said Tuesday two MERS patients whose health has been restored are donating blood plasma to two patients infected with the virus, The Wall Street Journal reported.
South Korea has witnessed a slowing rate of infection among the affected hospital population but the number of cases continued to rise to 154. South Korean news network YTN reported 19 people have died.
Convalescent plasma therapy involves a blood transfusion. The alternative therapy method was widely used until the early 20th century, before vaccines and antibiotics became more commonplace.
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Kwon Jun-wook, head of public health policy at Seoul's Health Ministry, said the trial is being conducted with "insufficient clinical evidence." The therapy worked to lower fatality rates by as much as 23 percent for SARS patients in the past – offering a glimmer of hope for South Korea's apprehensive public.
The BBC reported the treatment also has proved useful for Ebola patients, and that South Korea health authorities are giving the method a try for a disease that has no known cure or vaccine.
Misinformation has also spread in South Korea along with the sudden development of MERS infections in the country.
Teachers were sprinkling salt on school grounds in an attempt to protect the premises but the measure does not have any impact on the spread of the MERS coronavirus.
On Tuesday, German media reported a 65-year-old German man had died from MERS in the northwestern town of Osnabruck.
In South Korea, infections began spreading rapidly after a 68-year-old man returned home from the Middle East in May.
The BBC reported 36 percent of confirmed MERS patients have died.
