GALVESTON, Texas — The first U.S. case of coronavirus originating in China has now been confirmed by the C.D.C.
The patient is a man in the state of Washington.
Meanwhile, doctors and researchers at the Galveston National Lab at UTMB are trying to come up with a vaccine.
"We’re one of only two laboratories that are built specifically to work on high-hazard pathogens, so we have been following this story since its first publication and we’re working hard on creating a vaccine,” Dr. James Le Duc, the director of the Galveston National Lab, said.
The symptoms of this coronavirus include fever, cough and shortness of breath. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, kidney failure and death.
“And I suspect that as the disease progresses, the patients become more and more infectious,” Le Duc said.
But, he believes the world seems a bit more prepared to tackle this outbreak than previous ones.
"I'm concerned, but as I said, as opposed to SARS, when we really didn’t’ know what was happening until much further on, I think the global community is much more prepared than nearly two decades ago,” Le Duc said.