The first case of MERS, a dangerous respiratory virus that originated in the Middle East and has a high death rate, has been confirmed in the United States. The person infected with (MERS-CoV) is a health care provider who had traveled to Riyath for work, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said. The name, gender and the location of the patient were not disclosed. There is no cure for MERS Co V, no medicine for treating it and no vaccine to prevent it. The virus causes fever, breathing difficulties and can lead to pneumonia and death in some patients. According to center for disease control, 401 people in 12 countries have been confirmed to have MERS Co V, including the US patient. The latest death toll announced by Saudi authorities is 107. There appears to have been rise in the cases lately, but the scientists have no indication whether virus is mutating or becoming more infectious. A professor of epidemiology at the the university of Columbia, New York said, " It has not evolved to become more capable of human to human transmission It is the same virus we see in camels.". Officials are trying to track down the people who were near the patient who flew from Riyath to London on April 24 and then flew to Chicago, Illinois , where the patient boarded a public bus to Indiana. It was also not known whether the patient had direct contact with camels during the Saudi trip. MERS is considered a deadlier cousin of SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003, and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died. The prognosis of MERS is worst among patients who have other health problems or who have compromised immune systems.
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