US has potential third case of MERS virus

The US says a member of the health team that treated the second MERS patient may have caught the virus.

A third potential case of the dangerous Middle East Respiratory Virus (MERS) has been found in the US, health authorities say.

"Two of the 20 team members exposed to the confirmed MERS patient are showing symptoms," said Geo Morales, spokesman for the Orlando hospital where one infected patient was treated.

"One of the two has been admitted to the hospital but is in stable condition. The other was treated and discharged, and is following precautions at home. All 20 team members have been tested and we are expecting those results within the next day or two," the spokesman added on Tuesday.

The second infected US patient was confirmed as such on May 10. The man, 44, is a health care worker who resides and works in Saudi Arabia. He travelled by plane on May 1 from Jeddah to London, England, then to Boston, Atlanta and Orlando, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters.

The US announced its first case earlier this month, a health care worker who had travelled to Riyadh at the end of April.

MERS causes fever, cough and shortness of breath, and can be lethal particularly among older people and those with pre-existing health problems.

About 30 per cent of the several hundred people infected with it have died, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.