First case of MERS detected in US

A healthcare worker who had traveled to Saudi Arabia has been confirmed as the first US case of Middle East Respiratory Virus (MERS), an often fatal illness, which has led to concerns about the rapid spread of such diseases, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention said yesterday.

The male patient took a British Airways flight on 24 April from Riyadh to London, where he changed flights at Heathrow airport to fly to the US. Landing in Chicago, he took a bus to an undisclosed city in Indiana.

On 27 April, he experienced respiratory symptoms, including fever, cough and shortness of breath.

The Indiana State Department of Health said, the man visited the emergency department at Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana, on 28 April and was admitted that same day.

He was tested for MERS in view of his travel history, and the CDC was sent samples, which confirmed the presence of the virus on yesterday.

The virus is similar the virus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which appeared China in 2002-2003 and caused around 800 deaths. The virus was first detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

According to Dr Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, who spoke on a  conference call, the first US case of MERS was "of great concern because of its virulence," proving fatal in about a third of infections.

The virus had killed over a  100 people in the Middle East federal health officials said yesterday.

According to Dr Schuchat, the man whose name, age and exact occupation had not been released was stable and receiving oxygen.

She said a single American case of the virus, for Middle East respiratory syndrome - was ''a very low risk.'' The CDC has not recommended qvoiding travel to the Middle East.

The virus, which is thought to have originated in bats, is also widespread in camels. While it had not spread easily between humans, outbreaks had been seen within families and in hospitals, where patients had infected paramedics, nurses and doctors.

For reasons that are not known, cases started surging in Saudi Arabia in March and according to some experts, the virus was made more transmissible with mutations.  Many believe the virus was being spread by camels and that carelessness in hospitals had helped it spread.

Though the classic symptoms are fever and shortness of breath, pointing to pneumonia, mild cases and unusual symptoms had also been seen. The WHO suggests that hospitals test any patient returning from the Middle Eastwithin 14 days.

The disease has no cure and the line of treatment is to put patients on ventilators. Antibiotics are given to prevent secondary bacterial infections, in the hope that their immune systems would defeat the virus with time.