Abstract

The bitter lessons learned from MERS-CoV epidemics in 2015 will be remembered among Korean whenever infectious epidemics hit the globe. A total of 186 cases were confirmed as positive with 38 deaths (20.4%), and billions of dollars were lost economically. In addition, a total of 37 confirmed cases were found among HCWs, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and even an ambulance driver. Though droplets from patients were considered as a primary spreader, aerosols are being suspected as a secondary contributor. Wearing N95 respirators to protect from respiratory infection is being recommended as a control measure, its efficacy is being questioned due to limited protection factors of N95 and lack of training for HCWs. We will review several cases of MERS infections among HCWs in Korea and the results of fit testing using N95 for HCWs. The results will be useful for protecting HCWs from infectious agents in the future.