The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes to track down 100 people who may have come into contact with the second U.S. MERS patient in Orlando, Florida. A total of 20 health care workers have already been sent home after being exposed.
The CDC and Indiana Department of Health also sent a number of health care workers home and had them tested after they were exposed to the first MERS virus patient at a hospital in Indiana. They were cleared to return to work yesterday. The whole process will begin again following the second MERS casein Florida.
Two health care workers in Orlando are experiencing flu-like symptoms after coming into contact with the MERS patient, and health officials are concerned about others who have come into contact with the man. As a result, the CDC and Florida Department of Health will attempt to track down these people and have them tested. This will likely be difficult because the man took a flight from Saudi Arabia to London, and then to Boston, Atlanta, and finally Orlando. He also spent time in two hospitals while getting treated.
"Generally when we think of the spread of infectious diseases, we look at both the individual who has the disease and the type of medical procedure that's undertaken," said CDC Director Tom Frieden in this news release. "So certain medical procedures are higher risk than others. We're doing everything possible to find individuals who may have had contact with this person so they can be evaluated as necessary."
MERS symptoms typically take five days to show up, but sometimes they can take weeks, which is dangerous because someone can still be carrying the virus without suffering from it. The Orlando man is in good condition, local health authorities told CBS News. Symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing, and a fever, and it's important to seek a medical opinion as early as possible because waiting too long can result in death (152 people have died of MERSsince 2012 in Saudi Arabia alone).
As of now, the CDC and Florida Department of Health are trying to track down people who may have came into contact with the man while he was at two different hospitals. The health care workers should be able to return to work within the next week.