Specimens from a nasopharyngeal swab (n = 17), and tracheal aspirate (n = 1) were collected at the emergency department or wards when the 15 patients of the same barrack visited the emergency department, or when symptoms developed in the remaining three patients who came into contact with them. Reverse-transcriptasepolymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) tests and additional viral cultures were performed in accordance with published guidelines from the WHO in all patients (8) .