comprehensive
contact tracing to prevent the occurrence of subsequent
infections is recommended.4 According to the Philippines
guidelines for MERS,3 close contacts of probable and
confirmed MERS cases should be followed up and
monitored for symptoms until 14 days after the last
exposure; the usual definition for close contacts is those
who lived with, worked with and cared for a confirmed
case. At least one country’s department of health does
not consider HCW using full PPE during exposure as
close contacts and does not recommend laboratory
screening for asymptomatic close contacts;5 however, in
this investigation, Category E contacts were added. This
may have been an overly cautious response and added
burden especially as all contacts were then monitored
for 14 days and tested even if they were asymptomatic