INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A new virus that has killed nine people in China is now in the United States. The first case was discovered in Washington state.​The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now screening everyone at major airports coming from that region of China.​ Almost 300 cases have been confirmed of the pneumonia-like disease.

According to the CDC, the five airports with screenings are the only ones that receive passengers from the city of Wuhan, a city located about 500 miles inland from Shanghai. Experts tell News 8 that no screenings are likely at the Indianapolis International Airport. ​​The new virus that comes from the same coronavirus family as the SARS outbreak almost 20 years ago, which killed hundreds of people.​

But experts say a lot has changed since then, in part thanks to research done at Purdue University. ​

Mary Kay Foster is the Special Pathogens Program Manager​ at IU Health. Hearing the news, she admits there’s “a little bit of fear anytime you have a new virus where you don’t know what’s going to happen.”​

​Foster said this is just the seventh known coronavirus and only the third to affect humans. The previous two were SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which was first discovered in 2002, and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), which was first discovered in 2012. ​​Other coronavirus strains have decimated the pig population here in Indiana and around the country as well as killed a number of domestic cats.

“In a way, it’s like deja vu; we’ve seen this before,” said Andy Mesecar, head of biochemistry at Purdue University and deputy director for the university’s Center for Cancer Research.​

Mesecar said the new virus is 99.8% the same as SARS, which killed almost 10% of its patients. But the last case was diagnosed in 2004.​ He said there are some key differences this time around, including that China has been much more transparent about the problem.

“That’s a huge advancement from when we were in 2004, 2005 when we didn’t understand a lot about this virus,” he added. “Now we do understand quite a lot about it.”

There have also been tremendous technological advances. Genetic sequencing, which took well over a month with SARS, happened in two weeks’ time. Mesecar said scientists are now even able to narrow down which caves housed the bats that originally carried the SARS virus.

While there’s no vaccine yet for a human coronavirus, Purdue has developed a molecule that has been effective in lab animals exposed to SARS. It’s just waiting for a pharmaceutical company to decide to take the next step.​

“Where the drug molecule interacts with the protein, we have no reason to believe this would be any different,” said Mesecar.

​​San Francisco, JFK in New York, and Los Angeles airports began screening travelers coming from Wuhan on Friday. ​Atlanta and Chicago’s O’Hare airports started doing the same on Tuesday, meaning every passenger arriving on a flight from Wuhan will get their vitals checked and asked questions by trained people in customs if they don’t like what they see.​

​”I think they’re doing the right thing,” said Foster. “This is a big thing, a big plus for us.”​​

The CDC said the new outbreak is a serious public health concern, and while everyone believes new cases are likely, the immediate health risk is low.

Foster said if you’re infected, you usually have a bad cough and shortness of breath and normally a fever.

Within the last few days, scientists were able to confirm it can be passed from human to human.​ The incubation period is up to two weeks. 

“We’re more prepared now than ever before,” she said.​The Indianapolis Airport is not a major hub for any airline, especially for travelers coming back from Wuhan.

Officials from the State Department of Health tell News 8 they will wait for guidance from the CDC before implementing any health screenings here. They would then work with the Marion County Health Department.