Data from: Airflow analysis of Pyeongtaek St. Mary’s Hospital during hospitalization of the First Middle East respiratory syndrome patient in Korea

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is known to be transmitted through
close contact. However, epidemiological surveys of MERS in Korea indicated
that some secondary patients were infected without close contact.
Therefore, the possibility of other transmission routes must be
identified. In this study, the possibility of MERS spreading through
airflow was investigated on the 8th floor of Pyeongtaek St. Mary's
Hospital. Computational fluid dynamics was used to analyze the indoor
airflow and passive tracer diffusion during the index patient’s stay. Six
cases were simulated for different outdoor wind directions and indoor
mechanical ventilation operations. When a passive tracer was released in
ward 8104, where the index patient was hospitalized, the passive tracer
spread through the indoor airflow, which was created by the outdoor
airflow. Ward 8109, which had the largest number of infected cases and was
far distant from ward 8104, showed passive tracer concentration in all
cases. This result indicates that MERS may have spread through airflow.
The study results do not imply that the infection pathway of MERS is
airborne. However, the results show the possibility of MERS spreading
through airflow in specific environments such as poor ventilation
environments.