The U.S. has seen its third case of the MERS virus this past month. Despite showing no symptoms, an Illinois man was diagnosed with the virus on May 2, his infection proving unique: he is the first person to have contracted the virus in the U.S., which is already prevalent in the Middle East.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has already begun to issue public warnings regarding the virus and its prevention methods. Yet while CDC response team leader, Dr. David Swerdlow, sees no immediate threat as the disease has had “no sustained transmission” in the U.S. like other viruses such as the flu, MERS is proving to spread rapidly overseas. According to Reuters, about 30 percent of those infected with the virus have died.

While we still know little regarding the origin of the MERS virus, it is characterized as a “severe, acute viral respiratory illness caused by MERS-CoV, a beta coronavirus,” meaning that, according to the CDC, most people will at some point in their life contract the virus. Spread person-by-person, the illness — for which there is still no vaccine  — is on the rise, and while it has not yet been characterized by the CDC as a global health emergency, the virus is continuing to result in an increasing number of fatalities.

While cases of the virus have emerged in nations of varying degrees of wealth, including Egypt, the Netherlands and Jordan, by far the worst-hit country has been its originator, Saudi Arabia. Deaths in Saudi Arabia as a result of the MERS virus have hit a whopping 163 as of May 17. Yet while the country — known for its vast oil wealth and a relatively strong GDP placement compared to other nations  — may not be the most prime example of impoverishment, a startling 20 percent of the nation’s population is still, almost secretly, living in poverty. Crippled by impoverished conditions, the world’s poor may be among those most at risk of contracting the severe virus.

While the future for the virus is still relatively unknown, appropriate actions by the CDC are being put into place in order to ensure proper combativeness in case of a pandemic. Forced now to wait and see the true effects of the virus characterized as a “deadlier, less transmissible cousin of the SARS virus,” the CDC ensures that they are prepared for whatever the outcome.

– Nick Magnanti

Sources: CNN, Al Jazeera, TIME 1, Washington Post, Public News Service, AL, Boston, TIME 2
Photo: ICCS