Officials at the Community Hospital in Munster announced that the first American to be diagnosed with the controversial Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus is now in good health and has been discharged from the hospital.

The hospital's medical information chief, Dr. Alan Kumar, said the patient, who has not been named but was identified as a male healthcare worker in his 60s, has been allowed to leave the hospital after laboratory tests showed he was free from the MERS virus.

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"He was no longer symptomatic and does not pose any threat to the community," Kumar said, adding that the discharge was also approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health of Indiana.

MERS, which still has no vaccine and no specific treatment, spreads from person to person but medical experts said the virus is not highly infectious. MERS was first identified in 2012.

The American patient, who worked at a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, went to see his family in Indiana on 24 April but had himself admitted to the Munster Community Hospital a few days later.

Health workers did not immediately know that the patient had MERS until a series of laboratory tests showed strain of the virus. The health workers were immediately quarantined and tested for the virus.

"The normal incubation period has passed and so far the patient seem to have not infected any one else," Kumar announced.

But that should not be a reason to be complacent, said Dr. William VanNess, Indiana state health commissioner. All healthcare providers must remain vigilant in looking for any future cases, he said.

VanNess added that the Munster Community Hospital and the Health Department will continue to take precautionary measures with the release of the first MERS patient in the US.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a total of 497 cases of MERS infection have been confirmed since September 2012. The virus has killed about 30 percent of its victims, who were mostly in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries.

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