U.S. reports 1st case of person-to-person spread of coronavirus
Man is married to Chicago woman who got sick from virus after returning from Wuhan
Health officials Thursday reported the first U.S. case of person-to-person spread of the coronavirus from China.
The individual is married to the Chicago woman who got sick from the virus after she returned from a trip to Wuhan, China, the centre of the outbreak. There have been cases reported of the infectious virus spreading to others in a household or workplace in China and elsewhere.
The new case is the sixth reported in the United States. The other five were travellers who developed the illness after returning to the U.S. from China. The latest patient had not been in China.
The Chicago woman, who is in her 60s, returned from central China on Jan. 13. Then last week she went to a hospital with symptoms and was diagnosed with the viral illness. She and her husband, who is also in his 60s, are hospitalized.
Experts have said they expected additional cases, and that at least some limited spread of the disease in the U.S. was likely. Health officials think the new virus spreads mainly from droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how the flu spreads.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Illinois health officials announced the case Thursday.
Health officials were quick to try to ease any concerns that the case signals the start of a local outbreak.
"The risk to the general public in Illinois remains low," said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public
Health.
The man doesn't use public transportation, and he had not attended any large gatherings. Anyone who had been in close contact with him is being monitored, said officials.
"We anticipated this," said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University infectious diseases expert. "The kind of contact that you have in a household is very close and very prolonged. That's the kind of circumstance where we would anticipate a virus such as this could be transmitted."
Virus symptoms
The virus can cause fever, coughing, wheezing and pneumonia. It is a member of the coronavirus family that's a close cousin to the SARS and MERS viruses that have caused outbreaks in the past. The new virus has sickened thousands, mostly in China, and killed about 213.
Older people, and those with other health conditions, are believed to be at greater risk for severe illness from the virus. The new patient has a health condition, but health officials did not say what it is.
An international outbreak caused by the virus first emerged last month in China. Doctors there began seeing the new virus in people who got sick after spending time at a wholesale food market in Wuhan. Officials said the virus probably initially spread from animals to people, as did SARS and MERS.
The other U.S. cases are in Arizona, Southern California and Washington state.
Canada has confirmed three cases of the virus, all of which originated in Wuhan.
With files from CBC News and Reuters