South Korea Reports Two Deaths From Mers

South Korea reported on Tuesday two deaths from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, the first since an outbreak that has affected 25 people in two weeks. A 58-year-old woman who had had contact with the country's first patient died of acute respiratory failure on Monday, the health ministry said. A 71-year-old man who had been on respiratory support also died. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which is also known as Mers, is a virus which causes pneumonia and associated conditions, fatally in a large minority of patients – estimated currently at about a third. It is a coronavirus, a particular type of virus like the Sars virus that struck East Asia in 2002-3, which is not fully understood.