Severe acute respiratory syndrome

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) poses a threat to international health and could potentially become the first severe new disease of the twentyfirst century with global epidemic potential. It has spread within one week to 11 countries in 3 continents created by a highly mobile, closely interconnected world. The relatively long incubation period of up to 10 days potentially allows the novel coronavirus to be transported by an asymptomatic air traveller globally. Although scientists collaborated with lightning speed and identified the culprit virus (1) and broke its genetic code in 5 weeks from the onset of the epidemic in Hong Kong (2), there is still a great deal of unknowns such as the different modes of transmission, the pathogenesis, and the behaviour of the virus. SARS is associated with high morbidity, with 20-25% of patients requiring intensive care management, and 10-15% mortality. In addition, health care workers are at the highest risk, and all affected individuals and contacts require strict isolation. Moreover, one patient can infect many people, and some even exhibit the "super-spreader phenomenon" whereby hundreds of patients could be infected by one single index case. For all these reasons, SARS has created a great deal of anxiety and even within the medical circle as well as in the general public. The economic consequence of the disease to the society is enormous. © 2005 Hong Kong University Press, HKU. All righrts reserved.