|
| FILE - This file photo provided by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases shows a colorized transmission of the MERS coronavirus that emerged in 2012. Health officials on Friday, May 2, 2014 said the deadly virus from the Middle East has turned up for the first time in the U.S. |
NEW YORK (AP)
-- Health officials on Friday confirmed the first case of an American
infected with a mysterious virus that has sickened hundreds in the
Middle East.
The man fell ill after flying to the U.S. late last week from Saudi Arabia where he was a health care worker.
He
is hospitalized in good condition in northwest Indiana with Middle East
respiratory syndrome, or MERS, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and Indiana health officials, who are
investigating the case.
The virus is not
highly contagious and this case "represents a very low risk to the
broader, general public," Dr. Anne Schuchat told reporters during a CDC
briefing.
The federal agency plans to track
down passengers he may have been in close contact with during his
travels; it was not clear how many may have been exposed to the virus.
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,
most notably at four facilities in that county last spring.
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 respiratory illness, and more than 100
people have died. All had ties to the Middle East region or to people
who traveled there.
Experts said it was just a matter of time before MERS showed up in the U.S., as it has in Europe and Asia.
"Given
the interconnectedness of our world, there's no such thing as `it stays
over there and it can't come here,'" said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia
University MERS expert.
MERS belongs to the
coronavirus family that includes the common cold and SARS, or severe
acute respiratory syndrome, which caused some 800 deaths globally in
2003.
The MERS virus has been found in camels,
but officials don't know how it is spreading to humans. It can spread
from person to person, but officials believe that happens only after
close contact. Not all those exposed to the virus become ill.
But
it appears to be unusually lethal - by some estimates, it has killed
nearly a third of the people it sickened. That's a far higher percentage
than seasonal flu or other routine infections. But it is not as
contagious as flu, measles or other diseases. There is no vaccine or
cure and there's specific treatment except to relieve symptoms.
Federal
and state health officials on Friday released only limited information
about the U.S. case: On April 24, the man flew from Riyadh - Saudi
Arabia's capital and largest city - to the United States, with a stop in
London. He landed in Chicago and took a bus to nearby Indiana. He
didn't become sick until Sunday, the CDC said.
He
went to the emergency room at Community Hospital in Munster the next
day with a fever, cough and shortness of breath. He was admitted and
tested for the MERS virus because he had traveled from the Middle East.
The hospital said he was in good condition.
As
a precaution, the hospital said it would monitor the man's family and
health care workers who treated him for any signs of infection.
There's
been a recent surge in MERS illnesses in Saudi Arabia; cases have
tended to increase in the spring. Experts think the uptick may partly be
due to more and better surveillance. Columbia's Lipkin has an
additional theory - there may be more virus circulating in the spring,
when camels are born.
The CDC has issued no
warnings about travel to countries involved in the outbreak. However,
anyone who develops fever, cough or shortness of breath within two weeks
of traveling in or near the Arabian Peninsula should see their doctor
and mention their travel history.
