What do u know about SARS??

Severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS is a respiratory disease in humans which is caused by the SARS coronavirus. There has been one major epidemic to date, between November 2002 and July 2003, with 8,096 known cases of the disease, and 774 deaths (a mortality rate of 9.6%) being listed in the WHO's April 21, 2004 concluding report.

The epidemic of Yellow Pneumonia appears to have originated in Guangdong Province, China in November 2002. The first case was reportedly originated from a rural area in Foshan, Guangdong in Nov 2002, and the patient who is a farmer, was treated in the First People's Hospital of Foshan. No one was quite sure that it was a serious disease in that time. The patient died soon after, and no definite diagnosis was made on his cause of death. ("Patient #0" -- first reported symptoms -- has been attributed to Charles Bybelezar of Montreal, Canada) and, despite taking some action to control it, Chinese government officials did not inform the World Health Organization of the outbreak until February 2003, restricting media coverage in order to preserve public confidence. This lack of openness caused delays in efforts to control the epidemic, resulting in criticism of the People鈥檚 Republic of China (PRC) from the international community. The PRC has since officially apologized for early slowness in dealing with the SARS epidemic.


SARS was recognized at the end of February 2003. WHO co-ordinated the international investigation with the assistance of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network and worked closely with health authorities in the affected countries to provide epidemiological, clinical and logistical support as required.

SARS is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a very serious and contagious illness caused by a virus. There was an outbreak of SARS in 2002-2003, which started in China and spread to many countries. Hundreds of people died and the world medical community learned something about pandemics. Here is an article with a lot more information about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS

The main symptoms of SARS are high fever (> 38掳 Celsius), dry cough, shortness of breath or breathing difficulties. Changes in chest X-rays indicative of pneumonia also occur. SARS may be associated with other symptoms, including headache, muscular stiffness, loss of appetite, malaise, confusion, rash and diarrhoea,
close contact with an infected person is needed for the infective agent to spread from one person to another. Contact with aerosolized (exhaled) droplets and bodily secretions from an infected person appears to be important. To date, the majority of cases have occurred in hospital workers who have cared for SARS patients and the close family members of these patients. However, the amount of the infective agent needed to cause an infection has not yet been determined.