Effect of Information Disclosure Policy on Control of Infectious Disease: MERS-CoV Outbreak in South Korea

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jan 1;17(1):305. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17010305.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: MERS-CoV; Middle East respiratory syndrome; infectious disease; information disclosure policy; prevention.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Coronavirus Infections* / epidemiology
  • Coronavirus Infections* / prevention & control
  • Disclosure* / statistics & numerical data
  • Disease Outbreaks* / prevention & control
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interrupted Time Series Analysis
  • Laboratories
  • Male
  • Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus / physiology
  • Policy
  • Records
  • Republic of Korea / epidemiology