JIM YOUNG / Reuters
First published May 17th 2014, 3:16 pm
A
business associate of the man who brought the first case of a
mysterious Middle East virus to the U.S. has also tested positive for
the disease, though he showed no signs of illness, federal health
officials said Saturday.
The new case, the third reported in the U.S., is in an Illinois man who met twice with a health care worker who was hospitalized in Indiana after traveling from Saudi Arabia and was diagnosed May 2 with MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome.
The Illinois man had not
traveled outside of the U.S. recently and he did not seek or require
medical care, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said in announcing the new case Saturday. Instead, laboratory
tests showed that the man had evidence of the infection in his blood.
He continues to feel well, CDC officials said.
“This latest development
does not change CDC’s current recommendations to prevent the spread of
MERS,” said Dr. David Swerdlow, who is leading the agency’s response to
the infection that has sickened more than 570 people and killed 172,
mostly in Saudi Arabia. It is formally known as the MERS coronavirus, or
MERS-CoV.
“It’s possible that as
the investigation continues others may also test positive for the
MERS-CoV infection but not get sick,” Swerdlow added in a statement.
The new case was detected as part of efforts by CDC and state health departments to contact everyone connected with the Indiana man and a Florida man who was the second in the U.S. diagnosed with MERS May 11.
In both cases, the men were
health care workers who came from Saudi Arabia and traveled on planes
and other forms of public transportation to get home. The Indiana case
is a health care worker in his 60s who was hospitalized April 28 and
then diagnosed with MERS. In the Florida case, the 44-year-old man went
to an Orlando emergency room, where he may have exposed others to the
virus. None of the MERS cases has been identified.
MERS is spread through
close contact, health officials say, and there’s no evidence of
sustained transmission in public settings.
That could include
contact such as handshakes typical of business gatherings. The Illinois
businessman met twice with the Indiana patient just before he was
diagnosed with MERS. Local health officials reached out to him and
tested him for active infection on May 5, with negative results. But
blood samples in a test returned May 16 showed evidence of MERS
antibodies, indicating recent infection.
CDC officials are continuing to reach out to, test and monitor people who have come into contact the three U.S. cases.
Officials say they have not changed their travel guidelines for U.S.
residents heading to the Middle East and urge people to take sensible
infection control precausions. The agency recommends that travelers
closely monitor their health during and after the trip and report any
signs of illness.
Health officials have
been evaluating travelers from the Middle East for months and should
continue to do so, with extra vigilance about any signs of respiratory
illness.
