Indiana Hospital That Treated First MERS Case in United States Gets Clean Bill of Health

On May 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent and the Indiana Department of Health confirmed the first case of the MERS virus in the United States. Eleven days later, the hospital that treated the ill man received a clean bill of health.

A number of health care workers were exposed to the man infected with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and they were tested and sent home to ensure they didn't have the virus or the potential to spread it. Those employees were cleared to return back to work earlier today.

"The public can be reassured that there is no risk to the community, as there have been no reported cases of people without symptoms transmitting this virus to another person," said Alan Kumar, the hospital's chief medical information officer, in this Los Angeles Times article.

The MERS virus is a big problem in Saudi Arabia, where the country's ministry of health documented 536 cases and 145 deaths since its discovery in September of 2012. The World Health Organization and drug manufacturers are working with Saudi Arabia to develop a vaccine for MERS to help halt its spread and contain the virus before Ramadan and Hajj, two Muslim gatherings in July and October.

The man who was diagnosed with MERS in the United States traveled back home after being in Saudi Arabia for a short while. After visiting relatives about 25 miles south of Chicago, he visited the local hospital in Munster, Indiana on April 28, complaining of shortness of breath, coughing, and a fever. Doctors administered a blood test and confirmed that man had MERS and then proceeded to put him in isolation to ensure the disease would not spread.

He was released from the hospital on Friday and was cleared to travel, but then the second case of MERS was documented in the U.S. yesterday in Orlando, Florida. It's not linked to the first MERS case. The patient flew from Saudi Arabia to London, and then to Boston, Atlanta, and Orlando. The CDC is not recommending that anyone change their travel plans yet.

It was just reported that health care workers who were treating the MERS patient in Florida now have flu-like symptoms.