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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

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Medical Author:

Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP

Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP

Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP is the Chair of the Department of Medicine at Michigan State University. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt Medical School, and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Indiana University.

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Medical Editor:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) facts

• SARS is a contagious respiratory disease first identified in 2002.



• SARS is caused by a coronavirus (SARS-CoV) that exists in bats and civets in Southern China.



• The infection is spread easily from person to person through respiratory droplets.



• Infected people have symptoms of pneumonia, including fever and shortness of breath. Diarrhea may also occur.



• Severely affected people experience respiratory failure and may need mechanical ventilation. Older people, pregnant women, and those with underlying illnesses are at higher risk for severe disease.



• No cases of SARS have been diagnosed since 2004. SARS should be suspected in people with a compatible illness who work with SARS-CoV in the laboratory or who have gotten ill after exposure to bats or civets in Southern China.



• If there are grounds for suspicion, respiratory secretions are sent for testing to reference laboratories or to the CDC.



• There is no medication that is known to treat SARS. Treatment is supportive.



• During the 2002 outbreak, approximately 25% of people had severe respiratory failure and 10% died.



• The SARS outbreak in 2002 was controlled solely by using public-health measures such as wearing surgical masks, washing hands well, and isolating infected patients.

What is severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)?

SARS is an infectious respiratory illness caused by a virus. The first cases of SARS occurred in late 2002 in the Guangdong Province of the People's Republic of China. Because of the contagious nature of the disease and the delayed public-health response, the epidemic spread rapidly around the globe. Final statistics from the World Health Organization showed 8,096 reported illnesses and 774 deaths.

The rapid transmission and high mortality rate (about 10%) of SARS drew international attention and concern. Fortunately, efforts to identify and quarantine infected people proved highly effective. By July 2003, sustained human-to-human transmission of SARS had been eliminated. This was a public-health triumph that is often underappreciated. Although illnesses such as anthrax, bird flu, or West Nile virus are potential threats, SARS was a very real problem. Unfortunately, future outbreaks of SARS are still possible because the virus lives in some wild bats and civets in China and also exists in laboratory cultures. In fact, there were a few human cases of SARS in 2004 as a result of laboratory accidents in the People's Republic of China.