Скачать или смотреть Experts move to calm US Mers outbreak fears

The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci tries to calm fears of the rapid spread of the deadly Mers virus after the first US case is confirmed

US health officials on Friday confirmed the first case of an American infected with a mysterious virus that has sickened hundreds in the Middle East.

The man fell ill after flying to the US late last week from Saudi Arabia where he was a health care worker.

He is admitted to hospital in good condition in northwest Indiana with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and Indiana health officials investigating the case.

The first reported case "does not mean that any epidemic on the horizon or that it will spread", said Dr Thomas Briese, Associate Director of Columbia University's Centre for Infection and Immunity.

Saudi Arabia has been at the centre of a Middle East outbreak of MERS that began two years ago.

The virus has spread among health care workers, most notably at four facilities last spring.

Overall, at least 400 people have had the respiratory illness, and more than 100 people have died.

All had ties to the Middle East region or to people who travelled there.

"I'm not surprised at all given the amount of travel and air traffic between people in the US and people in the Middle East. There's no question that sooner or later something like this was going to happen," said Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Source: APTN

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