SALT LAKE CITY — There are now five confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Doctors have stressed that the immediate risk to Americans is low, but health leaders are taking aggressive measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the US.
The virus originated in Wuhan, China, and has already claimed 82 lives. More than 2,000 people have been infected. All five of the US cases are in people who traveled from Wuhan.
The symptoms of coronavirus include fever, coughing and difficulty breathing. More severe cases can lead to pneumonia, kidney failure and death.
"This new coronavirus appears to be different in that it’s spreading more broadly and spreading in a fashion more like flu spread. But severity seems to be much closer to influenza than it does to SARS, which killed 10 percent of all patients who got it," said Dr. Andrew Pavia, Chief, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at University of Utah Hospital.
