Wisconsin officials just confirmed a coronavirus case there — the 12th in the US

FILE PHOTO: Passengers arrive at LAX from Shanghai, China, after a positive case of the coronavirus was announced in the Orange County suburb of Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 26, 2020. REUTERS/Ringo Chiu/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Passengers arrive at LAX from Shanghai, China, after a positive case of the coronavirus was announced in the Orange County suburb of Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 26, 2020. REUTERS/Ringo Chiu/File Photo

Reuters

A patient in Wisconsin has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus, the state’s health department told Business Insider on Wednesday. It’s the 12th case in the US; the first was confirmed on January 24.

The Wisconsin patient had “a history of travel to Beijing, China, prior to becoming ill,” according to the state’s health department. The patient was tested at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison, Ryan Westergaard, the department’s chief medical officer, told The Associated Press. 

The person is isolated at home and doing well, officials added, but they declined to provide further details. Before the announcement, Wisconsin had been investigating 10 cases of the virus, and seven had come back negative.

“The risk of getting sick from 2019 novel coronavirus in Wisconsin is very low,” State Health Officer Jeanne Ayers said in a statement. “We are responding aggressively to the situation and monitoring all developments. We are committed to keeping the public fully informed and will continue to provide updates as this situation unfolds.”

The coronavirus has killed nearly 500 people and infected more than 24,000 people globally since December, with the majority of cases occurring in China. The virus likely originated at a seafood market in Wuhan, China.

For the latest case total, death toll, and travel information, see Business Insider’s live updates here.

The outbreak has spread to 25 other countries: Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, the US, and Vietnam.

In addition to the Wisconsin patient, the US has 11 other confirmed cases: six people in California, a husband and wife in Chicago, a man in his 30s in Washington state, one patient in Arizona, and one in Massachusetts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said all of those patients were “doing well” on Wednesday.

 

In two of the cases, the virus was transmitted human to human among family members.

The coronavirus family is a large group of viruses that typically affect the respiratory tract. Coronaviruses can lead to illnesses such as the common cold, pneumonia, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which sickened 8,000 people and killed 774 from November 2002 to July 2003.

People with the new coronavirus — known as 2019-nCoV — have reported symptoms such as fevers, coughing, and difficulty breathing. Most of the people who have died were elderly or otherwise unwell, Chinese officials have said.

The risk in the US is still low, according to the CDC. Officials at the agency recommend that people wash their hands frequently with soap and water and refrain from touching their eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands to avoid spreading of the virus. 

We’re in an ‘age of epidemics,’ a scientist says. More diseases like the coronavirus will jump from animals to people.

Chinese doctors released chest scans of a 33-year-old coronavirus patient that show what the illness looks like in her lungs

Scientists have published over 50 studies on Wuhan coronavirus in the last 3 weeks. They learned that 75,800 people in Wuhan could be infected.

The first patients have arrived at the hospital China panic-built to treat the Wuhan coronavirus. Here’s what it looks like inside.

Read the original article on Business Insider

source: yahoo.com