The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, may be most prevalent in Saudi Arabia and in the Middle East but cases of the disease in different countries all over the world raise concerns of a looming global epidemic.
Fears regarding the disease have now worsened as the United States confirmed its first case of the deadly illness caused by the coronavirus MERS-CoV. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday that a healthcare worker who worked in Saudi Arabia and arrived in the U.S. late last month is the country's first case of MERS.
In a conference call last Friday, CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases director Anne Schuchat expressed concern that the highly fatal viral disease, which is responsible for at least 76 deaths in Saudi Arabia, is already in the U.S.
"MERS is now in our heartland," Schuchat said albeit adding that MERS does not easily get transmitted from one person to another. "It represents a very low risk to the broader general public."
Health officials from the Indiana State Department of Health (IDPH) said that the unidentified male patient boarded a British Airways flight on April 24 bound from Riyadh to London, where he boarded another flight to Chicago then took a bus to a city in Indiana.
By April 27, the patient experienced respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath, cough and fever and visited the Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana on April 28 where he was admitted the same day. Because of the symptoms of his illness and his travel history, doctors tested him for MERS and sent the samples to CDC which later confirmed the presence of MERS-CoV.
Schuchat said that the patient, whose identity was not revealed to protect his family, has been isolated. He is getting oxygen support but is in a stable condition and does not need a ventilator. The hospital has likewise said that it is monitoring the health of health care workers who were in contact with the patient as well as the patient's family for MERS symptoms.
The hospital also said that because the patient's activity since his arrival in the U.S. is minimal, the risk of widespread transmission of the virus is minimal. Still, the CDC already works with the Department of Homeland Security to reach people who may have been in contact with the patient during his travel in case they exhibit possible symptoms of MERS.
