CDC Confirms First Case of MERS Within U.S.
Above: Scientists recently linked MERS to a virus in camels, according to this CNN report in late April 2014. A patient in Indiana is ill with the first U.S. case of a serious infectious disease from the Middle East. The American, a health care worker, left the Arabian Peninsula on April 24 for London, and arrived in the U.S. on April 27, less than a week ago. The Centers for Disease Control confirmed this afternoon that the Indiana patient is infected with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). He was health care worker in Riyadh, according to the CDC, and most likely became infected while doing that work. The Indiana patient is being given “supportive care” for fever, shortness of breath, and other symptoms, Assistant Surgeon General Dr. Anne Schuchat said on Friday afternoon. Currently “no anti-viral drug targets MERS-coronavirus,” she stated. The agency is actively looking for those who may have shared transportation or otherwise...