The Centers for Disease Control has confirmed the deadly MERS virus has reached the United States.
The patient was found in Indiana. He had traveled from Saudi Arabia to London and then to Chicago where he entered the country through O’Hare International Airport. The male patient reportedly went to the hospital for treatment after experiencing shortness of breath on April 28th.
“The CDC, IDPH and CDPH do not consider passengers on the flight or bus to be close contacts of the patient and therefore are not at high risk,” CDC Director Dr. LaMar Hasbrouk said in a news release.
The U.S. now the 14th nation in the world to have reported cases of the killer virus.
The CDC is trying to assuage any fears among the public of an outbreak of the virus.
“It is understandable that some may be concerned about this situation, but this first U.S. case of MERS-CoV infection represents a very low risk to the general public,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of CDC’s National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases.
The CDC has not yet issued a travel health warning for Saudi Arabia as Egypt has recently done because of the MERS outbreak.
MERSA ALERT SIGN AT CHECK IN STAND in Springfield, MO St. John’s Mercy Hospital first week in July 2014. Also several patients with puke buckets and warming blankets on in ER waiting room. Extremely long over 6 hour wait in order to be seen by any doctor there, some were even told total of 15 hour wait before getting inside for help. If this is normal for this hospital time wait, what happens if or when a pandemic starts happening around here? I doubt if any local or even state wide hospitals here in MO are prepared properly for a pandemic of any kind from any cause, even a natural catastrophie occurance with lots of injuries. News tv stations should be concerned with bringing this story to everyones attention, it’s important to discuss such matters. Hospital board members and owners are failing us the public when they do not do enough to prepare ahead of time for such emergencies in larger than normal numbers of people.