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Officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday they have confirmed the first US case of the newly-emerging Middle East Respiratory Virus or Mers within US borders.
The CDC said it is investigating the first case of the deadly virus with health officials from the state of Indiana.
Mers, a Sars-like viral disease first detected in 2012, has caused outbreaks in the Middle East and sporadic cases around the world.
Although the vast majority of Mers cases have been in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East, the discovery of sporadic cases in Britain, Greece, France, Italy, Malaysia and other countries have raised concerns about the potential global spread of the disease by infected airline passengers.
The patient is being cared for in an Indiana hospital and is “isolated in stable condition”, Anne Schuchat, director of CDC’s National Center for Immunisation and Respiratory Diseases said.
It was on April 27, after travelling to Saudi Arabia, London and Chicago, that the patient began to experience shortness of breath, coughing and fever.
According to official tallies, 401 people in 12 countries have been confirmed to have Mers virus and 93 have died.
Schuchat said there was a low risk of Mers spreading to the general public, but added that the situation was considered “fluid”.
She said the CDC is not recommending that people change their travel plans.
Scientists are not yet sure how the Mers virus is transmitted to people.
The virus is similar to the one that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) which emerged in China in 2002/2003 and killed some 800 people - around a tenth of those it infected.
There is no cure for Mers infection and no vaccine against it.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s health ministry has issued a warning against children, elderly people and anyone suffering from chronic heart and chest diseases travelling to Saudi Arabia due to the Mers outbreak there
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