Worker who cared for Orlando MERS patient hospitalized, another sick
ORLANDO -- Two Orlando health care workers who treated a 44-year-old man with MERS now have flu-like symptoms. One was admitted to the hospital, while the other was sent home.
Test results are expected today to find out if they and approximately two dozen others, who had contact with the patient, have contracted the potentially deadly disease. If any results come back positive, it'll be the first time MERS is contracted in the U.S.
Florida MERS Patient Sat In A Busy ER For Nearly 8 Hours
Almost eight more hours passed before staff at Orlando's Dr. P. Phillips Hospital determined the patient had traveled from Saudi Arabia, where he worked at a hospital, began to suspect his exposure to MERS and had him moved to an isolation room, the hospital's chief quality control officer said...While the Orlando patient waited to be admitted, he was treated in a single room in the emergency department where healthcare workers wore gloves and gowns due to his diarrhea, but did not wear goggles and face masks appropriate for protecting them from the virus, Crespo said.
Florida officials said they were monitoring the health of 20 healthcare workers who had been in contact with the patient, including a doctor who had already left for Canada. They also were trying to track down nearly 100 people who may have overlapped with the patient at two Orlando medical facilities he visited.
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-How many ER visitors (staff, messengers, Transport staff moving throughout the hospital . . .as well as patients & family) shared the same restroom(s) (sinks, toilets, paper dispensers etc.) with the Saudi MERS patient (suffering from diarrhea) during the 4-8 hours it took to suspect MERS ?
Last updated Wednesday, May. 14 2014, 7:30 AM EDT
Woman exposed to MERS speaks out -
22 hospital workers asked to stay home
Health officials said Tuesday roughly 500 people may have been exposed to the MERS virus by flying on planes within the United States with the sick patient.
One of those travelers learned Tuesday morning she had been exposed and was sent a health checklist.
"They informed me that there was a confirmed case of the MERS virus from my flight from Atlanta to Orlando. I was really scared," said the woman who does not want to be identified, but lives in Virginia and flew with her husband on May 1 aboard the same Delta flight with the MERS-infected patient.
Twelve days after her flight, her State Health Department called and sent her a letter that reads:
"You were exposed to a person with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS) on your flight" and asks if she has symptoms like fever (100.4 f degrees), cough, difficulty breathing, wheezing, or pain when coughing or breathing deeply. She and others who flew with the MERS patient must record their temperature for 14 days after their exposure."
"I was in shock that I could actually contract it. We're considered exposed but there was no level associated with that. They just said to me, 'You and your husband are considered to be exposed to the MERS virus,'" she said.
She and her husband have no symptoms but still have to monitor their health and they have until May 15 before they are in the clear.
Health officials said the MERS patient continues to improve at the hospital. Health officials said because he was not coughing on board the flights, the risk of spreading the virus to people on the plane is very low. The risk continues to decline among people who had even less contact with him at the airport or elsewhere.
Dr. Kevin Sherin, with the Florida Department of Health at Orange County, said, "I think the risk is negligible to this community."
