Local health officials have confirmed the first case of the dreaded coronavirus in an American patient, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday.
The virus has already claimed the lives of at least six people and afflicted hundreds of others in China, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday during which millions of people are expected to travel, the CDC disclosed.
The CDC confirmed that a resident of Snohomish County, Washington State was diagnosed with the coronavirus upon the patient's recent return from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where an outbreak of the mysterious pneumonia has been ongoing since December last year.
CDC officials said the patient returned to the United States from China on January 15, 2020 and sought care at a hospital in Washington, where the patient was treated for the illness.
Doctors suspect that the illness was caused by the coronavirus, based on the patient's symptoms and travel history. A clinical specimen was collected and sent to CDC, where laboratory tests confirmed the diagnosis.
Health officials said the patient, a male in his 30s, is "very healthy" and has been put in isolation "out of caution" and "poses little risk" to the public.
While medical and healthcare experts initially thought the virus was spreading from animal to person, there are growing signs that limited person to person transmission is occurring.
During Tuesday's conference with members of the media, Nancy Messonnier, CDC director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said they are "being proactive at all levels," and are working closely with the health department on details about the patient.
Authorities confirmed that 15 medical staff have now been infected, raising paranoia about an international health crisis and prompting airport officials around the world to strictly enforce and step up monitoring and scanning of travelers from China.
Experts warned the outbreak could deliver a serious blow to the economy, as they pointed to the fallout from the deadly SARS crisis in 2003.
The coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which causes a type of pneumonia, was thought to have originated from a seafood market in Wuhan. It was first reported in late December.
According to the CDC, coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some causing sickness in people and animals, including camels, cats and bats.
The World Health Organization said it appears that the epidemic started in an animal source. The CDC and other related national and international medical institutions have yet to determine how easily the virus spreads between people.
So far, the US, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand have confirmed cases of the virus in Chinese visitors. Strengthening public health measures are intended to avert a repeat of the 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS, which killed around 800 people in China, officials said.
There is much more to learn about how the 2019-nCoV virus, its severity, and other associated symptoms. The CDC is currently conducting a thorough investigation.
While it views this is a serious public health issue, based on current information, the immediate risk to health from the coronavirus to the general American public is considered low at this moment. Nevertheless, CDC said it is taking all the necessary precautions to deal with the virus.
The WHO is expected to convene a panel of health and science experts in Geneva, Switzerland on January 22 to determine whether the virus should be considered as a global health emergency.