The Arizona Department of Health Services said there is no real threat of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, commonly known as MERS, but that has not stopped them from having a working plan.
A recent outbreak has affected South Korea after a man returned from a trip in the Arabian Peninsula where the virus originated.
Director of the Department of Health Services, Dr. Cara Christ, said those traveling to and from those areas are most at risk for getting the virus and bringing it back to the state.
“We’ve got our state lab, [and] it is up and ready to test if we do have a potential sample," Christ said. "But again, we always feel that it is better to be prepared for something and not have it happen than try and catch up something we were not prepared for."
Christ said only two cases of MERS have ever been confirmed in the U.S. since the virus was first identified in 2012. MERS has no known cure.
