--- title: South Korea MERS Treatment Goes Into Clinical Trials description: Death toll climbs to 19 as hospitals test new blood plasma treatment on infected patients canonical: https://time.com/3922503/south-korea-plasma-mers-treatment/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-16T12:39:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:55.126Z article:section: Health og:title: South Korea MERS Treatment Goes Into Clinical Trials og:description: Death toll climbs to 19 as hospitals test new blood plasma treatment on infected patients og:url: https://time.com/3922503/south-korea-plasma-mers-treatment/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf776309120ffc810/698854b9524fc08b41df3220/gettyimages-477297968.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4896 og:image:height: 2754 og:image:alt: Struggles To Contain MERS Continue In South Korea og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: South Korea MERS Treatment Goes Into Clinical Trials twitter:description: Death toll climbs to 19 as hospitals test new blood plasma treatment on infected patients twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf776309120ffc810/698854b9524fc08b41df3220/gettyimages-477297968.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # South Korea Tests Plasma Treatment to Combat MERS Outbreak > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Know Right Now: What Is MERS? [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: What Is MERS?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/H2goDvhB.m3u8) (1:05)  _Published 2015-06-09. South Korea is battling with an outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, a a viral respiratory infection that causes fever, coughs and breathing difficulties. But what exactly is MERS and what are the chances of a global outbreak?_  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jun 16, 2015 12:39 PM UTC  Disinfection workers wearing protective clothing spray anti-septic solution in an karaoke amid rising public concerns over the spread of MERS virus on June 16, 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. Disinfection workers wearing protective clothing spray anti-septic solution in an karaoke amid rising public concerns over the spread of MERS virus on June 16, 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. Chung Sung—Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jun 16, 2015 12:39 PM UTC South Korean hospitals have launched clinical trials for an experimental treatment of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, a potentially lethal virus that has claimed 19 lives since it first broke out across the country four weeks ago. The country’s health ministry said Tuesday that two hospitals will use blood plasma from patients who recovered from the disease to treat those who are currently infected, the BBC [reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-33146828). Some 150 South Koreans have tested positive for MERS and a further 5,200 have been [quarantined](http://time.com/3920859/south-korea-mers-outbreak-who/) as officials work to contain the outbreak. The first lethal infection reached Germany on Tuesday, as a 65-year-old man succumbed to the disease in a clinic in Osnabruck. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-33146828)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3922503/south-korea-plasma-mers-treatment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3922503/south-korea-plasma-mers-treatment/"},"headline":"South Korea Tests Plasma Treatment to Combat MERS Outbreak","datePublished":"2015-06-16T12:39:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:55.126Z","description":"Death toll climbs to 19 as hospitals test new blood plasma treatment on infected patients","url":"https://time.com/3922503/south-korea-plasma-mers-treatment/","keywords":["Infectious Disease"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf776309120ffc810/698854b9524fc08b41df3220/gettyimages-477297968.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf776309120ffc810/698854b9524fc08b41df3220/gettyimages-477297968.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Struggles To Contain MERS Continue In South Korea","caption":"Struggles To Contain MERS Continue In South Korea","creditText":"Chung Sung—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3922503/south-korea-plasma-mers-treatment/","name":"South Korea Tests Plasma Treatment to Combat MERS Outbreak"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: What Is MERS?","description":"South Korea is battling with an outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, a a viral respiratory infection that causes fever, coughs and breathing difficulties. 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