On May 2, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the first confirmed U.S. case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).  Public health officials are assuring citizens that there is very low risk to the general public.  Still, the Daily Herald reports that CDC officials are contacting individuals that may be at risk and will respond if others are showing symptoms.

On April 24, the patient traveled by plane from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Chicago, IL, via London, England.  The patient then took a bus from Chicago to Indiana.  On the April 27, the patient began to experience respiratory symptoms and went to an emergency department in an Indiana hospital the next day and was admitted that same day.  The patient is now isolated and in stable condition.

MERS is a coronavirus of the same family as SARS.  According to the Conversation, there are concerns that MERS could be the possible source of the next global pandemic.  A 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) infected more than 8,000 people and killed almost 800.  The World Health Organization reports that MERS suddenly appeared and started infecting people in September 2012 and may have a higher mortality rate than SARS.

Still, others argue that MERS does not have the same propensity to become a global pandemic as SARS.  A study, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, examined 47 cases of MERS infections.  Of these 47 cases, 28 patients died, which was an alarming 60 percent mortality rate.  However, the researchers note that only two of the 47 patients were previously healthy.  The other 45 suffered from one or more chronic conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, renal disease, and cardiac disease.

In contrast, CBS News reports that SARS infected healthy and unhealthy people at comparable rates.  Researchers concluded that because this virus seems to affect vulnerable people at a drastically higher rate, it does not have the propensity to become a global pandemic that wildly spreads throughout the world.  It is also easier to identify who is at risk and take appropriate measures to keep them from infection.