VANCOUVER, B.C. – Dr. Daniel C. Payne has been investigating the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus since the first case was reported in the Arabian Peninsula nearly 2 years ago.
An epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Payne has traveled to the sites of outbreak and has worked with foreign officials to study and track down the virus.
Courtesy of Maureen Metcalfe/Azaibi Tamin
How big a worry is MERS for US clinicians and what precautions should they take?
Meanwhile, in the United States, CDC officials have been preparing for the potential arrival of the virus for the past year, Dr. Payne said. So when the first case was confirmed on May 2 in Munster, Ind., all the pieces were in place and health officials were ready.
According to the latest update, the patient is a male US citizen in his 60s who lives and works in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He traveled from Riyadh to Chicago on April 24, via London’s Heathrow airport, and then to Indiana by bus.
Officials at Community Hospital in Munster, where he’s being treated, said on May 5 that the patient is doing well, is off oxygen, and walking around.
Since the first confirmed MERS case in Saudi Arabia, 263 cases have been confirmed in 12 countries, and there have been 92 deaths, according to a recent CDC briefing.
But how big a worry is MERS for US clinicians, what critical questions should they ask their patients, and what precautions should they take? Dr. Payne addressed some of these major concerns in a video interview during the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies and shared the silver lining to the virus’s arrival in the United States.
He also encouraged clinicians to check the CDC website for the latest updates and practice protocols. Clinicians can also visit the World Health Organization’s website for the latest global updates.
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