South Korea’s MERS virus outbreak: 7 dead, 95 infected, 2,500 quarantined

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NEED TO KNOW

"We are fighting two wars: The war against the disease and the war against fear."

That's how a provincial governor in South Korea described the current outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that's killed 7 people, infected 95, quarantined over 2,500, and closed 2,200 schools.

MERS, which presents as flu-like symptoms, has been mostly confined to Saudi Arabia, where it was first discovered in 2012. It's a deadly virus, but not a particularly infectious one. 

Except in hospitals. 

That partially explains why South Korea's outbreak has gotten as bad as it has. The first Korean patient became infected in early May while traveling in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He returned to South Korea, and developed a fever on May 11. He bounced around several clinics and hospitals. Until he reached Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, nobody realized he'd been traveling in the Arabian Peninsula, and there'd been no attempt to isolate him from other patients. Of the 95 infection cases, 37 come from one of these hospitals: St. Mary's in Pyeongtaek.

South Korea's neighbors are concerned. Hong Kong issued a "red" travel alert on Monday, meaning people should "adjust travel plans" and "avoid non-essential travel" to South Korea. Meanwhile, the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are reminding Americans that they aren't at risk and shouldn't be freaking out. (Those same warnings didn't do much to calm US Ebola hysteria in the summer of 2014, of course.) 

Part of the reason people are so worried is because MERS looks, acts, and sounds like another virus we know well: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which was the virus behind a major outbreak in Asia in 2003 that infected more than 8,000 people and killed more than 700. The key difference between the two is that SARS is much more infectious than MERS. So the current outbreak is a serious situation, but a manageable one. 

WANT TO KNOW

Judging from what we've been hearing recently from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, there are three words in Israel right now that are scarier than "nuclear Iran": Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). 

The BDS movement — or as Netanyahu has called it, "a great struggle being waged against the State of Israel, an international campaign to blacken its name" — began in 2005 when a group of Palestinian activists called on the world to impose economic penalties on Israel "until Palestinian rights are recognized in full compliance with international law." Specifically, BDS supporters want Israel to end the 49-year military occupation, grant full equality to Palestinian citizens, and allow Palestinian refugees to return to their land.

BDS has had some big successes since then — most recently, Britain's national student union voted to join the boycott.

But the real impact of BDS on Israel's economy is hard to measure.

Take Israel's relationship with its largest trading partner, the European Union. In the years since BDS began, the value of Israel's exports to EU countries has doubled to $15.6 billion per year.

Hardly the "great struggle" that Netanyahu makes it out to be.

As GlobalPost correspondent Gregg Carlstrom explains, it's no surprise that Bibi is raising alarm about a movement that hasn't yet dented Israel's pocketbook, because in Israel, BDS isn't so much about economic numbers as it is about politics. Netanyahu can use the threat of BDS to rally support and build a government. Meanwhile, politicians on the left raise the specter of BDS in hopes that it will make a two-state solution seem more attractive. 

STRANGE BUT TRUE

The world's oceans don't have streets, but now they have Google Street View. 

Monday was World Oceans Day, and Google celebrated by rolling out a new Street View collection that allows you to swim — virtually, by clicking arrows — through the waters off Bali, the Bahamas, and elsewhere.

There are lots of colorful fish, some shipwrecks, a few whales and dolphins, and coral. Lots of glorious coral.

Ocean Street View is kind of like scuba diving without having to get your certification. But it's about more than just beautiful, interactive scenes of ocean life. Google and its partners are using this panoramic photography to document the effects of climate change on marine life. 

"Mapping the ocean," says Google, "is key to preserving it."

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