CDC: Man has MERS virus but is not ill

CDC: Man has MERS virus but is not ill

NEW YORK

Health officials say an Illinois man apparently has picked up an infection from the only American diagnosed with a mysterious Middle East virus, but the man has not needed medical treatment.

The first U.S. case of Middle East respiratory syndrome was confirmed earlier this month in Indiana, where a man fell ill shortly after arriving from Saudi Arabia where he lived.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday that tests completed Friday show the Illinois man probably was infected with the virus after having close contact twice with the MERS patient in Indiana.

A second U.S. case was confirmed last week in a man from Saudi Arabia who was visiting Florida.

Laos officials die in plane crash

BANGKOK

A military plane carrying senior Lao government officials crashed Saturday in a wooded area as it approached an airport in the country’s northeast, killing at least five people, including the defense minister and other high-ranking members of the authoritarian country’s ruling party.

Lao National Television showed video of the mangled wreckage of the plane, with smoke rising from its badly charred remains. The footage showed rescuers pulling away pieces of aircraft debris and trying to dig through the remaining fuselage with shovels, as medical crews stood by watching.

Doctors save man at Ore. heart walk

PORTLAND, Ore.

Cardiologists taking part in the American Heart Association’s annual Portland Heart and Stroke Walk saved a fellow participant who went into cardiac arrest on the Eastbank Esplanade.

The Oregonian newspaper reports that Dr. Joaquin Cigarroa was just a few steps behind the man who collapsed Saturday. The doctor immediately performed CPR.

Dr. Cigarroa and another cardiologist on the walk, Brad Evans, pumped on the man’s chest and detected spontaneous heart beats.

Paramedics who had struggled to get to the scene because of the big crowd and a closed bridge then used a defibrillator to restore the man’s heart rhythm.

The unidentified man was taken to a hospital. Dr. Cigarroa told the paper he heard the man will survive and is neurologically intact.

Utah same-sex adoptions halted

SALT LAKE CITY

The Utah Supreme Court has ordered a temporary halt of several district judges’ orders requiring the Utah Department of Health to issue birth certificates in same-sex parent adoptions.

The stay was granted Friday night in response to a Utah Attorney General’s Office request for clarity on whether the department can issue the birth certificates if directed by court order.

The attorney general’s office praised the decision, saying the stay will remain in effect until the issue has been resolved by the court. The court has not yet announced a date for oral arguments.

Miss Beazley, Bush family terrier, dies

DALLAS

Miss Beazley, former President George W. Bush’s beloved Scottish terrier, has died.

Bush’s office announced Saturday that Miss Beazley was “put to rest” this weekend after battling cancer. She was nearly 10 years old.

The family pet was featured in a December 2005 video, “A Very Beazley Christmas” — a look at White House holiday life presented from the a dog’s point of view.

Associated Press