First patient with MERS in US is improving, but number of cases worldwide doubles in six weeks to 6 May

An American healthcare professional who brought the first case of Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS) to North America is improving daily and should soon be discharged into home isolation, Indiana health officials said. The man, who worked at a hospital in Riyadh, flew to Chicago via Heathrow airport on 24 April then took a bus to Munster, Indiana. He fell ill three days later.

British and US officials have contacted most of the passengers on the plane and the bus, and testing so far has revealed no transmission. Anne Schuchat, responsible for respiratory diseases at the Centers for Disease Control, told a media briefing that the importation posed a very low risk to the wider community but “we …