Anchor: The number of MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, cases in South Korea has increased to seven as of Thursday morning, the highest number of cases for any country outside of the Middle East. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that a 71-year-old man who was in the same hospital ward as the first patient and a 28-year-old female medical worker at the hospital have been infected. As health authorities have tried to allay concerns about the contagiousness of MERS, the seemingly rapid spread of the disease has led some analysts to suggest that the nation may be facing a mutated virus.
Our Kim In-kyung has more.
 
Report: Doctors have confirmed at least seven cases of MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, in South Korea.
 
Despite assurances from health authorities that the virus is not easily spread, South Korea has the largest number of MERS cases outside of the Middle East.
 
Typically a single patient infected with MERS spreads the virus to only zero-point-six to zero-point-eight others, but concerns are rising that the disease may be more contagious than previously thought as a single infected patient has thus far left six others stricken.
 
As a result, some analysts have suggested that the current strain plaguing South Korea may be a more infectious, mutated virus. But genetic testing has shown that the MERS virus in South Korea is almost identical to the strain found in the Middle East.
 
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Kim Woo-joo of Korea University Guro Hospital explained that the MERS virus is quite stable and doesn't mutate rapidly.
 
Experts reasoned the virus has spread quickly in South Korea because health authorities only began quarantines after the first patient was moved between four hospitals over nine days following a business trip to Bahrain.
 
Meanwhile, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that a person who was in close contact with the first patient departed for China on Tuesday, leading critics to suggest that airport quarantine inspections are flawed.
 
The center informed Chinese authorities and requested that the person undergo an examination.
Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.