Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport will soon put up health advisory signs warning travelers about a deadly and mysterious virus that has made its way to the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday that a second case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome — or MERS — has been confirmed in the US. The first case was confirmed earlier this month.
MERS is a severe acute respiratory syndrome that originated in the Saudi Arabia and has now spread to several Middle Eastern countries.
The World Health Organization said 538 MERS cases have been confirmed in 17 countries, now including the United States. Of those cases, 145 people have died.
Anne Fees said dropped off her daughter at DFW Airport on Wednesday, who is traveling to El Salvador.
“There’s just no cure for it and that concerns it with my daughter traveling out of the country ,” she said.
The TSA is now putting up health warning signs at 22 airports around the country, including DFW Airport. No signs were posted as of Wednesday morning, but the TSA said signs will be posted soon.
/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} The signs will warn travelers about the symptoms of MERS and what steps to take to prevent its spread.
Frequent traveler Stephen Singh said in his opinion, there need to be even more warning signs at the airport.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"I think we need more signs than that. Because it can be confused with any other sign that’s out there you know. In an airport you’ve got so many distractions- and the last thing you want to see is a small sign you barely take notice of," Singh said.
"I mean there are people from all over the world here, so before it would feel far-fetched like okay, it’s not close to home. But now I mean the guy standing next to me could be traveling through there! It’s definitely worrisome to say the least," said Singh.
Health experts are concerned because there is no vaccine or cure for the virus.
