Infectious Diseases - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus that first was reported in Asia in February 2003. The illness spread to more than two dozen countries in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia before the global outbreak was contained in July 2003. SARS seems to be transmitted primarily by person-to-person contact, through respiratory droplets, which travel via coughs or sneezes to the mucous membranes of other people or to surfaces that others touch. Symptoms of the disease may include high fever (over 104 degrees Fahrenheit), body aches, malaise (overall discomfort), diarrhea, and mild respiratory symptoms; after two to seven days, the infected person may develop a dry cough. The disease then progresses to pneumonia in most people.

According to the WHO, 8,098 people worldwide became sick with SARS during the outbreak, and 774 died. In the United States eight people—all of whom had traveled to parts of the world with the virus—contracted the disease.