2nd coronavirus case in Chicago marks first person-to-person transmission reported in U.S.

The individual is married to the Chicago woman who got sick from the virus after she returned from a trip to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak.

SHARE 2nd coronavirus case in Chicago marks first person-to-person transmission reported in U.S.

The husband of a Chicago woman sickened with the coronavirus has been diagnosed with the same illness — the first person-to-person spread in the United States, health officials said Thursday.

But those same officials were quick to say the risk of the virus spreading more widely remains low.

“This news does not change the risk to the general public nationally, across Illinois or in the Chicago area,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.

The new case is the sixth reported in the United States. The other five were travelers who developed the illness after returning to the U.S. from China. The latest patient had not been in China.

Coronavirus

What is the disease?


Scientists have identified it as a new kind of coronavirus. There are many known types of coronaviruses. Some cause the common cold. Others found in bats, camels and other animals have evolved into more severe illnesses such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) or MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome).

What are the symptoms?


Common symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever. Shortness of breath, chills and body aches are associated with more dangerous kinds of coronavirus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At what point should you go to the doctor?


Unless you have recently traveled to China or been in contact with someone infected with the virus, you should treat any cough or cold symptoms as normal. There is generally no need to visit a doctor for a cough unless it is persistent or you are having other symptoms such as chest pain, difficulty breathing or you feel very unwell.

How are coronaviruses spread?


Many coronaviruses can spread through coughing or sneezing, or by touching an infected person. Initially, authorities in China said there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission in the present outbreak. But an expert panel has concluded there have been at least a few cases of people catching it from others, raising the possibility it could spread more widely.

— Associated Press, The Guardian


The local woman, who is in her 60s, returned from central China on Jan. 13, then last week went to a hospital with symptoms and was diagnosed with the viral illness. She and her husband are now both hospitalized, officials said Thursday. His condition has been stabilized; she is “doing well,” officials said.

The husband, who also is in his 60s, recently reported having symptoms and was placed into isolation at the hospital, health officials said. The test results confirming his illness came back Wednesday night from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab.

Asked whether the virus could have been transmitted from the woman to her husband before she began showing symptoms, Arwady said, “We have absolutely no reason to think that.”

“Public health officials are investigating locations where the second patient has visited in the last two weeks and any close contacts who were possibly exposed,” said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“We know already that, just like his wife, he has not, for example, taken the ‘L.’ He has not attended any large gatherings,” Arwady said.

There are “21 individuals [in Illinois] who are considered persons under investigation,” Ezike said. “We could see more cases among individuals who have had close contact, but I still want to reassure the public we are actively monitoring these individuals and implementing transmission precautions to minimize the risk of spread.”

Experts have said they expected additional cases, and that at least some limited spread of the disease in the United States was likely. Health officials think the new virus spreads mainly from droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how the flu spreads.

At a briefing last Friday, the CDC’s Dr. Nancy Messonnier said: “We are likely going to see some cases among close contacts of travelers and human-to-human transmission.”

The virus can cause fever, coughing, wheezing and pneumonia. It is a member of the coronavirus family that’s a close cousin to the SARS and MERS viruses that have caused outbreaks in the past. The new virus has sickened thousands, mostly in China, and killed about 170.

An international outbreak caused by the virus first emerged last month in China. Doctors there began seeing the new virus in people who got sick after spending time at a wholesale food market in Wuhan. Officials said the virus probably initially spread from animals to people, as did SARS and MERS.

The World Health Organization on Thursday declared the outbreak a global emergency as the virus has been exported to more than a dozen countries and the number of cases spiked tenfold in a week.

Contributing: AP

The Latest
The man was shot in the left eye area in the 5700 block of South Christiana Avenue on the city’s Southwest Side.
Most women who seek abortions are women of color, especially Black women. Restricting access to mifepristone, as a case now before the Supreme Court seeks to do, would worsen racial health disparities.
The Bears have spent months studying the draft. They’ll spend the next one plotting what could happen.
Woman is getting anxious about how often she has to host her husband’s hunting buddy and his wife, who don’t contribute at all to mealtimes.
He launched a campaign against a proposed neo-Nazis march at a time the suburb was home to many Holocaust survivors. His rabbi at Skokie Central Congregation urged Jews to ignore the Nazis. “I jumped up and said, ‘No, Rabbi. We will not stay home and close the windows.’ ”