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Health officials tell US doctors to watch for MERS

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials are advising U.S. doctors to be on the lookout for people sickened by Middle East respiratory syndrome, also called MERS, following an outbreak in South Korea. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday reminded doctors to ask patients with severe respiratory illness if they recently traveled. Officials…

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Hospital workers wearing protective gears as a precaution against the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus push a wheeled stretcher carrying a suspected MERS patient at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea Wednesday, June 10, 2015. South Korea believes its MERS virus outbreak may have peaked, and experts say the next several days will be critical to determining whether the government's belated efforts have successfully stymied a disease that has killed seven people and infected nearly 100 in the country. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT
Hospital workers wearing protective gears as a precaution against the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus push a wheeled stretcher carrying a suspected MERS patient at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea Wednesday, June 10, 2015. South Korea believes its MERS virus outbreak may have peaked, and experts say the next several days will be critical to determining whether the government’s belated efforts have successfully stymied a disease that has killed seven people and infected nearly 100 in the country. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials are advising U.S. doctors to be on the lookout for people sickened by Middle East respiratory syndrome, also called MERS, following an outbreak in South Korea.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday reminded doctors to ask patients with severe respiratory illness if they recently traveled.

Officials are now urging testing for MERS in very sick patients who had visited a South Korea hospital within two weeks of falling ill.

MERS was first detected in 2012 in the Middle East. More than 1,200 cases have been confirmed, including two travelers to the United States last year.

The MERS virus is thought to spread through sneezing and coughing, but not as easily as the flu or some other diseases.

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Online:

CDC MERS page: http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/index.html

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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