BY NICK CAREY
CHICAGO Sat May 17, 2014
7:12pm EDT
(Reuters) – An Illinois resident tested positive for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome after being in contact with an infected patient, though he did not show signs of illness, U.S. health officials said on Saturday.
The man likely contracted MERS from a man in Indiana who was hospitalized in late April with the first known U.S. case of the illness.
The Illinois resident’s lack of symptoms may shed light on milder forms of the deadly virus, which emerged in the Middle East in 2012 and has infected more than 500 patients in Saudi Arabia alone. It kills about 30 percent of those who are infected.
Researchers at the forefront of the global MERS response said this week they were investigating whether people infected with MERS who have no symptoms could still pass the virus on to others.
“There is evidence there is a broader spectrum of MERS” than first expected, said Dr. David Swerdlow of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who is leading the U.S. response to MERS.