CDC: First Reported U.S. Case Of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)

By Lisa White in News on May 2, 2014 7:35PM

(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.)

The United States has reported its first case of the viral respiratory illness, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). In a briefing Friday, the Centers for Disease Control announced that the first infected patient in the U.S. is a healthcare worker who traveled from Saudi Arabia to Indiana.

NBC News reports that according to the CDC, the patient traveled by plane on April 24 from Saudi Arabia to London, then London to Chicago. After landing in Chicago, the patient took a bus from Chicago to Indiana. On April 27, the patient began experiencing signs of illness and went to an ER on April 28. Due to the patient’s symptoms and travel history, Indiana public health officials tested him for MERS.

“In this interconnected world we live in, we expected MERS to make its way to the United States,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of CDC’s National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases “We have been preparing since 2012 for this eventuality.” Dr. Schuchat also said this first domestic case poses only a low risk for the general public.

MERS first came to light in 2012 when it caused the death of an elderly Saudi man. Many health experts including the World Health Organization have expressed alarm about the increase in MERS cases. WHO reports more than 250 confirmed cases and 93 deaths have happened since the virus was identified. On their own, Saudi Arabia has reported 371 cases with 107 deaths.

MERS is caused by coronaviruses and is related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. There is no specific treatment, cure or vaccine for MERS although some headway has been made in studying the disease in order to find a cure or vaccine. So far the virus has infected people in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirate, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Britain, Tunisia, Malaysia and the Philippines.