Illinois Man is Third U.S. MERS Case, CDC Says

A business associate of the man who brought the first case of a mysterious Middle East virus to the U.S. has also tested positive for the disease, though he showed no signs of illness, federal health officials said Saturday. 

The new case, the third reported in the U.S., is in an Illinois man who met twice with a health care worker who was hospitalized in Indiana after traveling from Saudi Arabia and was diagnosed May 2 with MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome. 

The Illinois man had not traveled outside of the U.S. recently and he did not seek or require medical care, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in announcing the new case Saturday. Instead, laboratory tests showed that the man had evidence of the infection in his blood. He continues to feel well, CDC officials said. 

The Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus is seen in an undated transmission electron micrograph from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

“This latest development does not change CDC’s current recommendations to prevent the spread of MERS,” said Dr. David Swerdlow, who is leading the agency’s response to the infection that has sickened more than 570 people and killed 172, mostly in Saudi Arabia. It is formally known as the MERS coronavirus, or MERS-CoV. 

“It’s possible that as the investigation continues others may also test positive for the MERS-CoV infection but not get sick,” Swerdlow added in a statement. 

The new case was detected as part of efforts by CDC and state health departments to contact everyone connected with the Indiana man and a Florida man who was the second in the U.S. diagnosed with MERS May 11.

In both cases, the men were health care workers who came from Saudi Arabia and traveled on planes and other forms of public transportation to get home. The Indiana case is a health care worker in his 60s who was hospitalized April 28 and then diagnosed with MERS. In the Florida case, the 44-year-old man went to an Orlando emergency room, where he may have exposed others to the virus. None of the MERS cases has been identified. 

MERS is spread through close contact, health officials say, and there’s no evidence of sustained transmission in public settings. 

That could include contact such as handshakes typical of business gatherings. The Illinois businessman met twice with the Indiana patient just before he was diagnosed with MERS. Local health officials reached out to him and tested him for active infection on May 5, with negative results. But blood samples in a test returned May 16 showed evidence of MERS antibodies, indicating recent infection. 

CDC officials are continuing to reach out to, test and monitor people who have come into contact the three U.S. cases. Officials say they have not changed their travel guidelines for U.S. residents heading to the Middle East and urge people to take sensible infection control precausions. The agency recommends that travelers closely monitor their health during and after the trip and report any signs of illness. 

Health officials have been evaluating travelers from the Middle East for months and should continue to do so, with extra vigilance about any signs of respiratory illness. 

 By JoNel Aleccia