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MERS Patient Is Improving, No New Cases Identified

The patient who was diagnosed with the first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in the U.S. is improving, and no other cases have been identified, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.

The patient was diagnosed earlier this week at Community Hospital in Munster.

"The swift diagnosis and precautionary measures taken have undoubtedly greatly helped reduce the risk of this potentially serious virus spreading," State Department of Health Commissioner William VanNess said in a statement.

Representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention arrived in Indianapolis Saturday to work with the state health department to monitor the situation.

The hospital staff who had contact with the patient have been sent home to be placed in temporary isolation as a precautionary measure. MERS symptoms can take up to 14 days to appear.

The patient is now in isolation.

MERS was first identified in humans in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The CDC indicates the disease rarely spreads from human to human.