A case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus has been documented in Indiana, reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The patient was a health-care provider who had traveled to Saudi Arabia recently. He is an American male who traveled on April 24th from Saudi Arabia to London and then to Chicago, then took a bus to Indiana. On April 27 he began to experience shortness of breath, coughing and fever. He is being isolated after he was admitted to a hospital on April 28. Officials do not think that it will cause a pandemic or that people who had been near him (such as on the bus) were in danger. Only 262 cases have ever been confirmed, the first in 2012. 93 of those people died, so the mortality rate of those who contract the virus is quite high. Saudi officials reported 339 cases and said that a third of those people had died. However, not all of these cases had been confirmed by the World Health Organization. There was a spike in cases late last month. Precautions such as frequent hand washing,
avoiding contact with the infected, avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands, and disinfecting surfaces that are frequently touched are suggested by the CDC. Those who have recently traveled to the Arabian Peninsula are the most at risk. Scientists so not know where the virus originated but it is suspected that it came from Camels.
I hope that this disease will not spread, a pandemic of something with such a high death rate would be very harmful. Hopefully the virus will not spread anywhere else in the U.S. or on the Arabian Peninsula. Maybe they will be able to contain it. It seems like it does not spread easily from person to person, which is good news. It's a bit odd since I think there was also an Ebola outbreak recently in Africa. At least it seems like this is treatable. As long as people are careful, it shouldn't pose a problem.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/02/health/indiana-mers/index.html?hpt=us_c2
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