This study examined the effect of disclosing a list of hospitals with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) patients on the number of laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV cases in South Korea. MERS-CoV data from 20 May 2015 to 5 July 2015 were from the Korean Ministry of Health & Welfare website and analyzed using segmented linear autoregressive error models for interrupted time series. This study showed that the number of laboratory-confirmed cases was increased by 9.632 on 5 June ( p < 0.001). However, this number was significantly decreased following disclosure of a list of hospitals with MERS-CoV cases (Estimate = −0.699; p < 0.001). Disclosing the list of hospitals exposed to MERS-CoV was critical to the prevention of further infection. It reduced the number of confirmed MERS-CoV cases. Thus, providing accurate and timely information is a key to critical care response.
【저자키워드】 prevention, Infectious disease, MERS-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome, information disclosure policy, 【초록키워드】 Critical care, hospital, Infection, Patient, estimate, information, South Korea, Critical, Korean, Middle East, website, Welfare, respiratory syndrome coronavirus, laboratory-confirmed, Ministry of Health, analyzed, examined, significantly, linear, reduced, was increased, 【제목키워드】 Policy, Control, South Korea, Effect,