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To: wtd

There may be “superspreaders”, like SARS.


9 posted on 05/17/2014 3:12:15 PM PDT by steve86
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To: steve86
First US MERS case spread disease

"North America appears to have seen its first case of onward transmission of the MERS virus, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcing Saturday that a contact of the first U.S. case has developed antibodies to the virus.

An unidentified man from Illinois, described as a business associate of the first U.S. case, appears to have been infected with the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, the CDC revealed during a hastily called news conference.

The two men met for between 30 and 40 minutes on April 25, and again briefly the next day. They reportedly shook hands during the meetings.

Officials at the World Health Organization and the CDC have stressed the MERS virus does not currently transmit easily from person to person. They have suggested that close and prolonged contact may be need to pass the virus from an infected person to one who is healthy.

When pressed to explain how transmission during a business meeting was consistent with that pattern, the CDC's point person for MERS virus, Dr. David Swerdlow, said the two men had face-to-face contact within a range of about two metres.

"We still don't think that this virus transmits easily, but it does transmit," Swerdlow said. "And that's why we've been concerned all along."

Swerdlow acknowledged that little is currently known about how the MERS virus is spread. Questions remain about who is likely to transmit virus — only severe cases or mild infections too? — and when during an infection a person can transmit the virus.

Still, he suggested this case hasn't led the CDC to rethink its ideas about the risk of MERS virus transmission

[excerpt]

23 posted on 05/17/2014 4:11:13 PM PDT by wtd
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