A New Measure for Assessing the Public Health Response to a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Outbreak.

Author: Sung Il CHO ¹
Author Information

1. Graduate School of Public Health and Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. scho@snu.ac.kr
Publication Type:Original Article
Keywords: Contact tracing; Quarantine; Isolation; Surveillance; Transmission; Republic of Korea
MeSH: Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology/*prevention & control/transmission; Disease Outbreaks; Health Personnel/ethics; Humans; Public Health/*ethics/legislation & jurisprudence; Quarantine; Republic of Korea/epidemiology
From:Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health 2015;48(6):277-279
CountryRepublic of Korea
Language:English
Abstract: Contact monitoring is an essential component of the public health response to a Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak, and is required for an effective quarantine to contain the epidemic. The timeliness of a quarantine is associated with its effectiveness. This paper provides a conceptual framework to describe the process of contact monitoring, and proposes a new measure called the "timely quarantined proportion" as a tool to assess the adequacy of a public health response.