Saudi Arabia officials feared that international travelers partaking in the Hajj pilgrimage might take a dangerous virus back home with them, now those fears have been realized.

CBS News reported the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) has officially spread to Spain. The country's Health Ministry confirmed a 61-year-old woman returning from an October trip to Saudi Arabia has been hospitalized with the virus.

MERS is similar, but not as dangerous as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), a virus that killed 800 people during a 2003 pandemic. MERS is not believed to be as contagious, but health officials are still acting with extreme caution.

Research suggests the virus is deadlier than SARS because a higher percentage of people who become infected die. While SARS seemed to be able to attack anyone without much notice, MERS apparently only affects people with chronic illnesses, or some other type of health weakness.

MERS is believed to have originated in a certain bat species in Saudi Arabia and has spread to humans through camels. Researchers found a nearly complete match to the virus in a bat, but have only found partial matches and traces in camels.

BBC News reported Monday that a camel tested positive for MERS and the animal was owned by a person who also had the virus. Despite the discovery, it is still unclear if camels are responsible for passing the virus on to humans. It is significant, however, because previously discovered infected camels have all been dead.

Experts said the virus is not very contagious, but could be passed through droplets in a person's sneezes or coughs. Since Sept. 2012, there have been 153 confirmed cases of MERS and officials said if it were contagious, there would have been many more cases reported.

Still, Spanish officials are worried the virus could spread throughout the country, as it has already found a way out of its birthplace. The Spanish Health Ministry is searching for anyone who accompanied the woman with MERS on her flight back from Saudi Arabia, the Wall Street Journal reported.

MERS is classified in the same family as the common cold, as well as SARS, and the woman who contracted it required oxygen on her flight. She is a Moroccan citizen who resides in Spain, but health officials said Tuesday she does not pose a public health risk.