DES MOINES, Iowa – With the announcement of the first U.S. transmission of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), many are concerned about what it could mean for public health.

Dr. David Swerdlow, who is leading the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) response team for the virus, says there is no alarm for Iowans at this point. While the virus can spread from person to person, Swerdlow says, it isn’t easily transmitted.

“There’s been no sustained transmission like you see with flu, where it goes from person to person to person,” says Swerdlow. “So, at the current time, we are concerned about the virus, we do think that there could be imported cases, but we don’t see this as being a major problem in the U.S. with widespread cases.”

According to the CDC, the first U.S. transmission of the virus occurred when an Illinois resident had contact with a person in Indiana who was infected while traveling in Saudi Arabia. Those two cases of MERS are not linked to a third patient in Florida, who also had traveled to Saudi Arabia.

MERS was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Since then, there have been almost 600 confirmed cases in 15 countries, including 173 deaths. Swerdlow says most patients develop respiratory illness with fever, cough and shortness of breath, and he adds there is no specific treatment.

“If a person gets a respiratory illness like this, they can be treated in an intensive care unit if needed, the standard things that we do for patients with respiratory illness,” he says. “But there’s no specific treatment, like an anti-viral.”

The CDC advises healthcare workers traveling to the Arabian Peninsula to follow guidelines for infection control, and for other travelers to take precautions to protect their health. As with any respiratory illness, Swerdlow says that means frequent hand-washing, covering coughs and sneezes, and avoiding contact with those who are sick.

(Iowa News Service)

The American Red Cross is urging everyone in a national campaign to get some swimming lessons this summer, saying drowning is one of the leading causes of unintentional death and injury in the U-S. Kara Kelly with the Great Iowa Chapter of the Red Cross says a study the organization conducted led them to focus on water skills. “Really some shocking information came out on really how much knowledge folks have on water safety,” Kelly explains. “About 50-percent of Americans either can’t swim or don’t have all of the basic swimming skills.”

Kelly says you are putting yourself in danger if you can’t do some of the basics. “Knowing how to float, being comfortable jumping into the water with the water being over your head, treading water for a minute, and then being able to find or swim to an exit,” Kelly says.

If you are in a pool, you should also know how to get out of the water without the use of a ladder. The survey found that nearly half of Americans (46 percent) report that they have had an experience in the water where they were afraid they might drown. Kelly says many parents take their kids to swimming lessons, but don’t know the basics themselves.

Kelly encourages everyone — regardless of their age — to get some swimming lessons. She recommends you swim where trained life guards are on duty. The Iowa Department of Public Health reports 43 people died in Iowa from drowning in 2012.

(Radio Iowa)