Coronavirus total for Houston area reaches 14; flyers warned after woman returns from Italy

This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. less This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, ... more Photo: Centers For Disease Control And Prevention Photo: Centers For Disease Control And Prevention Image 1 of / 101 Caption Close Coronavirus total for Houston area reaches 14; flyers warned after woman returns from Italy 1 / 101 Back to Gallery

Harris County health officials are asking some passengers who returned to Houston on a flight from Italy a week ago to self-isolate after testing confirmed a woman on the plane has the new coronavirus.

The case, the fifth in Harris County outside the city of Houston, involves a woman in her 20s who had been living in Italy. She contacted her healthcare provider after exhibiting mild flu-like symptoms upon returning to her home in the southwest quadrant of the county.

Fourteen people in the Houston region have now been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

Harris County officials Tuesday night called for the isolation of passengers who sat in the business/first class section of a Lufthansa (LH309) flight from Florence to Frankfurt March 3 (10:05 a.m.-11:45 a.m.); and in the business/first class section of a United Airlines (UA47) flight from Frankfurt to Houston the same day (1:50 p.m.-6:10 p.m.). Other passengers on the flight do not need to isolate themselves.

The officials added that such passengers should contact their local health department for additional guidance and call their healthcare provider before going to the facility if they want to see a doctor.

The woman did not require hospitalization and currently is quarantined at home, where she is recovering.

Local testing found the woman was “presumptively positive” for the virus. It still must be confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Earlier Tuesday, Montgomery County officials Tuesday announced a first case of the new coronavirus there, a man in his 40s being treated at an unspecified local hospital.

It was not immediately clear if that case is related to travel, specifically the Nile River cruise where all 12 of the area people previously diagnosed the past week contracted the infection. Montgomery County officials said they hope to have the patient’s travel history and other information Wednesday.

Like it was in the woman returning from Italy, the test for the Montgomery County man was presumptively positive and still must be confirmed by the CDC.

In a news release, the county said that healthcare providers are following strict guidelines from the CDC in interactions with the patient, who is isolated at the hospital.

Previously, doctors confirmed the virus in six patients in Harris County (two of them in Houston) and six in Fort Bend County. All were passengers on the same cruise line in Egypt.

The Pennsylvania-based company that advertised the package, Gate 1 Travel, has since canceled all its Nile River cruises through May 31. It also has provided the CDC with copies of its passenger manifest from the Feb. 12-19 cruise as well as “subsequent sailings during the following weeks,” spokesman Marty Seslow said.

There are now 17 confirmed cases in Texas. Collin County health officials in north Texas this week confirmed three cases of the virus there — a man, his wife and their 3-year-old child. The man traveled to California for a business trip in late February, officials said.

todd.ackerman@chron.com