NEW YORK -- Health officials say a deadly virus from the Middle East has turned up for the first time in the U.S. No details about the case have been released. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention planned a Friday afternoon briefing about the case. The CDC says it is investigating along with health officials in Indiana.| The virus has been found in camels, but officials don't know how it is spreading to humans. |
The virus has been found in camels, but officials don't know how it is spreading to humans.
| The Telegraph adds some details: |
Public Health England was on Friday night contacting two passengers who flew to Heathrow alongside a man diagnosed with a deadly camel-borne virus that has killed dozens in the Middle East.
America confirmed that the first reported case within its borders of the newly emerging Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or Mers, had been detected in the state of Indiana, where an American had been hospitalised after returning to the US a week ago.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said AmericaÂ’s first case of the virus involved a US citizen who worked as a health care worker in Saudi Arabia.
Public Health England said the man flew on British Airways Flight 262 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to London, and transferred at Heathrow for onward travel to the US, where he was later hospitalised.
“The risk of the infection being passed to other passengers on Flight 262 is extremely low,” the body said. “However, as a precautionary measure, Public Health England has contacted UK passengers who were sitting in the vicinity of the affected passenger to provide health information.”
Egypt has issued a warning against travel to Saudi Arabia as the virus spreads across the region just before the pilgrimage season.
EgyptÂ’s health ministry said that it was warning children under 15 and adults over 65, pregnant women and anyone suffering from chronic heart and chest diseases to postpone their pilgrimages.
The main Hajj season is in October this year, but many Muslims also make Umrah, the so-called “lesser pilgrimage”, at other times.
The case of the Egyptian who fell ill was first picked up at Cairo airport. He is said to be in a stable condition in hospital, but his uncle in Saudi Arabia, from whom he is believed to have become infected, has already died.
Mers causes a fever and a cough, but the effect can vary dramatically, with a high mortality rate in some people, but a majority testing positive with minor symptoms or none at all.
The infected person in Indiana is being kept in isolation in hospital.
"We can break the chain of transmission in this case through focused efforts here and abroad,” said Dr Tom Frieden, the director of the CDC.
| Wash your hands with soap and water every two hours, dear Reader, and do not touch your T-zone. The Army ran the experiment, and that cuts your chance of contracting any infection by something like 90%. |