The United States on Tuesday announced its first case of a new virus that has claimed six lives in China and sickened hundreds, joining countries around the world in ramping up measures to block its spread.
The man, a US resident in his 30s who lives near Seattle, is in good condition, according to federal and state officials, and approached authorities himself after reading about the SARS-like infection in news reports.
He is “currently hospitalized out of an abundance of precaution, and for short term monitoring, not because there was severe illness,” said Chris Spitters, a Washington state health official.
“This is an evolving situation and again, we do expect additional patients in the United States and globally,” added Nancy Messonier, a senior official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She stressed that the overall risk to Americans remained low.
The man is originally from Wuhan and returned to the US on January 15, two days before health officials began screening passengers at major airports arriving from the central Chinese city, which is at the heart of the outbreak. The efforts are to be extended now to a total of five US airports.
He lives alone and will be monitored in isolation for at least 48 more hours.