Healthcare providers urged to have a 'high index of suspicion' when screening for coronavirus

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are urging healthcare providers to monitor patients for potential symptoms of the coronavirus and to quickly report any suspicions of disease, according to an article on the Fierce Healthcare website. 

A total of five cases of the coronavirus have been detected in the U.S. so far with two cases in California, one in Arizona, one in Illinois and one in Washington.

At the time of publication, officials said they do not have evidence the virus is spreading in the U.S. and that all cases of the disease were in people who recently traveled to Wuhan. Since then one case of person-to-person infection was reported in Illinois.

"The threat to the general American public is low at this time, but the threat is serious and our public health response is aggressive," said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “Our guidance and approach may need to be modified.” 

Read the article.