US reports first case of deadly MERS virus
Print Edition
HEALTH officials confirmed the first case of an American infected with a mysterious virus that has sickened hundreds of people in the Middle East.
The unnamed man fell ill after flying to the United States last week from Saudi Arabia where he was a health worker.
He is now in hospital in Indiana with Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Indiana health officials said on Friday.
The virus is not highly contagious and the case “represents a very low risk to the public,” Dr Anne Schuchat said.
The disease control agency plans to track down people the man might have been in contact with on his travels.
So far, it is not known how he was infected, Schuchat said.
Saudi Arabia has been at the center of a Middle East outbreak of MERS that began two years ago. The virus has spread among health care workers.
Officials didn’t provide details about the American’s job in Saudi Arabia or whether he treated MERS patients.
Overall, at least 400 people have had the illness and more than 100 have died. All had ties to the Middle East or to people who traveled there.
Experts said it was just a matter of time before MERS showed up in the US, as it has in Europe and Asia.
“Given the interconnectedness of our world, there’s no such thing as ‘it stays over there,’” said Dr W Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University MERS expert.
MERS belongs to the coronavirus family that includes the common cold and severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The virus has been found in camels, but officials don’t know how it spreads to humans. It can spread from person to person, but officials believe that happens only after close contact.
Health officials on Friday released limited information about the US case: On April 24, the man flew from Riyadh — Saudi Arabia’s capital — to the US, with a stop in London. He landed in Chicago and took a bus to Indiana. He didn’t become sick until Sunday.
He went to the Community Hospital in Munster the next day with a fever, cough and shortness of breath. He was admitted and tested for the MERS virus as he had traveled from the Middle East. The hospital said he was in good condition.
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