CDC announces second case of MERS virus in US

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the second imported case of the deadly MERS virus in the United States, according to a statement released Monday.

The CDC said they are currently investigating the new case and have not yet released further information.

The first case of MERS in the U.S. was reported by the CDC on May 2nd. The infection was contracted by a health care worker in Indiana who had recently travelled to Saudi Arabia. The patient has since been released from the hospital and is considered 'fully recovered,' according to Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana, where he was treated.

MERS belongs to the coronavirus family that includes the common cold and SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which caused around 800 deaths globally in 2003. The virus, which is relatively new to humans, was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

Nearly 500 cases of the potentially fatal virus have emerged in Saudi Arabia since the outbreak began, and around a third of those diagnosed with MERS in Saudi Arabia have died.

news3blog.blogspot.com contributed to this article.