- The patient traveled from Saudi Arabia to Florida on May 1
- The first patient was released from an Indiana hospital Friday
- Health officials say the virus poses a low risk to the general public
(CNN) — There is a second confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome imported into the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday.
Officials from the CDC and the Florida Department of Health are investigating.
The first U.S. case was reported this month in Indiana. That patient was released from a hospital Friday into home isolation, according to state health officials.
The Indiana patient was an American health care provider who had been working in Saudi Arabia and was on a planned visit to Indiana to see his family.
The Florida patient is also a health care provider who lives and works in Saudi Arabia, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general with the U.S. Public Health Service and director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
However, the Florida case is not linked to the Indiana case, she said.
The “risk to the general public remains very low,” Schuchat said. In some countries, the virus has spread from person to person, but only in close contact, such as a person who was caring for an ill person.
“This virus has not shown the ability to spread easily from person to person in community settings,” she said.
The 44-year-old Florida patient traveled on May 1 from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to London, then from London to Boston; Boston to Atlanta; and Atlanta to Orlando.
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