Dr. Lipkin - Credit CII Columbia University
# 8644
Dr. Ian Lipkin - Director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health - and world renowned virus hunter, has penned an opinion piece for CNN News on the threat posed by the MERS coronavirus.
Dr. Lipkin, whose lab has done extensive work on the virus (see here, here, and here), writes that concern over this virus is warranted and `vigilance is essential’, but that he does not (yet) see signs that it will spark a pandemic.
Follow the link below to read:
Will MERS become a global threat?
By W. Ian Lipkin
updated 7:44 AM EDT, Tue May 20, 2014
Deadly virus spreads to 3rd U.S. patient
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- A third case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in the U.S. has been reported
- W. Ian Lipkin: The recent rise of MERS cases should not cause panic
- He says if we see clusters of infections that would be cause for concern
- Lipkin: New MERS cases are not surprising given how globally connected we are
Editor's note: W. Ian Lipkin is John Snow professor of epidemiology and director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- A third case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in the United States has been reported. An unidentified Illinois man was infected after having "extended face-to-face contact" with an Indiana man who was diagnosed with the MERS virus. Fortunately, he is no longer ill.
The rise in the reported number of MERS cases in the United States, Asia and Europe has fueled concern that this may be the big one: the 21st century equivalent of the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed 3% to 5% of the world population.
