Sales of surgical masks surge amid fears of a deadly, poorly understood virus. Airlines announce "intensified sanitising operations". More than 1,100 schools close and 1,600 people - and 17 camels in zoos - are quarantined.
The current frenzy in South Korea over Mers, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, brings to mind the other menacing diseases to hit Asia over the last decade - Sars, which killed hundreds, and bird flu.