Friday, June 14, 2013

MERS-CoV vigilance rises in US

Robert Roos * News Editor

Jun 13, 2013 (CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that more than 30 US patients have been tested for MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus), as clinicians asked questions about the criteria for testing people who show up in emergency rooms with suspicious symptoms. 

During a conference call to update clinicians on MERS-CoV, the CDC's Susan Gerber, MD, emphasized that no cases have been detected in the United States yet, but said the CDC has tested patients from various parts of the country since the virus was discovered last September. 

Gerber, a medical epidemiologist, didn't specify how many patients have been tested, but Mark Pallansch, PhD, director of the CDC's Division of Viral Diseases, told CIDRAP News that the CDC has tested more than 30 suspected cases, all with negative results. 

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