The person in Arkansas suspected of having the new coronavirus became sick after returning from a trip to China and is in a hospital in isolation, a state Department of Health official said Thursday.
Jennifer Dillaha, the Health Department’s medical director for immunizations and outbreak response, said respiratory and serum samples from the patient have been sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s laboratory in Atlanta.
“We anticipate we’ll have results tomorrow,” she said.
Citing health privacy concerns, Dillaha said she couldn’t provide any other information about the patient.
She said the department is keeping an eye out for other possible cases.
“We’re working to make sure that any health care provider who receives a patient that has a travel history to China and respiratory symptoms is properly isolated and evaluated,” Dillaha said.
Dillaha said the department will then help determine whether the patient meets the CDC’s criteria to be classified as a possible coronavirus case.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters that he had been briefed Thursday morning about the unconfirmed case in the state.
“It’s not something we’re worried about in terms of larger expansion of it,” the governor said. “It’s just a matter of making sure we monitor this one individual in the right way.”
The virus, first identified in Wuhan, China, spreads through respiratory droplets much like the flu does, Dillaha said.
According to a Johns Hopkins University website tracking reports from multiple sources, the virus had sickened 7,783 people and caused 170 deaths worldwide as of Wednesday evening.
In the United States, five cases have been confirmed, in Washington, California, Arizona and Illinois.
This story was originally published at 8:59 a.m.