Federal and state officials in Indiana are hopeful a deadly virus from the Middle East has been contained.
A healthcare worker from Saudi Arabia remains in isolation at the Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana. The patient, a U.S. citizen, flew into Chicago two weeks ago, took a bus to Indiana and started feeling ill three days later.
He went to the hospital last last week and was diagnosed with having MERS, short for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, the first such case in the U.S. Doctors say he’s doing fine and may be sent home soon.
About 50 Health care workers who came into contact with the patient have been placed in “home isolation” just in case.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence says monitoring won’t let up.
PENCE: We’re encouraged that this virus has been contained. We’re going to exercise an abundance of caution and be vigilant until we reach a point of absolute confidence that any potential exposure of this virus to our citizens is a thing of the past.
MERS was discovered in 2012 and kills about a third of all people diagnosed with it.