Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) Symptoms, Causes and recent developments

Although everyone has heard of SARS and its rapid spread around the globe, few understand what SARS is, how it is spread and the magnitude of the threat it poses to the world. In addition, this constant focus on disease and war has created a sense of fear that is causing many people to wonder if the end of the world had finally arrived. Increased focus on SARS has done more to alarm people than to give awareness about the disease.

Lack of information about SARS has added greatly to people’s fear of the disease. When the first cases of SARS were reported back in mid-March, not only were scientists unsure where SARS came from, they also knew very little about what has caused it, how it was spread or what differentiated those who are able to resist the disease from those who succumbed to it. This brought many people into a panic, such that surgical masks-thought to help prevent the spread of SARS-were quickly vanished out of Asia and other places where SARS has been most prevalent.

But over the past month, scientists from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and other health organizations have been quite successful to give answers to the questions related to the disease.

Scientists suspect that SARS originated in China’s Guangdong province, where the highest concentration of SARS cases continues to occur. However, efforts are still underway to determine whether the outbreak of a typical pneumonia that began there in November 2002 is linked to other cases of SARS worldwide. The first widely reported case of SARS involved the death of an American businessman who died on March 16 after travelling to China and Vietnam.

On April 16, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that SARS is caused by a new virus, called a “corona virus, ” previously not found in humans. Scientists at the University of Hong Kong are seeking to determine whether this virus is a mutated form of a similar virus found amongst poultry and swine.

According to WHO, as on April 17,2003,3,389 cases of SARS have been reported worldwide. Approximately five per cent of those cases have been fatal, with 165 people succumbing to the disease. ‘this death rate is higher than that of most other influenza-like diseases but still well below that of other recent epidemics, such as the flu pandemic that killed an estimated 40 million people in 1918. In Canada, 126 cases of SARs have been reported, twelve of which have proved fatal.

Symptoms

SARS usually begins with a high fever (over 38 degrees Celsius/ 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit), headache, body aches and sore throat. Other symptoms include a loss of appetite, rash and diarrhea. Respiratory symptoms, such as a dry cough, shortness of breath, and difficulty in breathing, appear two to seven days after exposure. Any one experiencing a combination of these symptoms and who has also travelled to a high risk area or been in contact with a SARS victim were advised to consult their doctor immediately.

Causes

SARS appears to spread primarily through close person-to-person contact. Most cases of SARS have involved health care workers, family members anyone else in close proximity with a SARS victim. According to Dr. Colin D’ Cunha, Ontario’s Public Health Commissioner, for members of the general public, the risk of catching SARS appears to be very slim. There is no evidence that SARS spreads through casual contact, such as being on the same airplane with someone who has SARS.

Health professionals advise that people should take the same precautions against SARS as they would against any other flu-like disease, such as washing their hands frequently and avoiding close contact with infected persons. The Canadian government also advised that people avoid travelling to areas where the disease was most prevalent, such as China, Hong Kong. Hanoi and Vietnam.

Although scientists have made many advances in finding a cure for SARS. Such as identifying the virus that causes the disease and then mapping its genome, so far they have been unable to find a drug that will cure it. Research into various potential cures is ongoing.

Recent Developments:

The Chinese Ministry of Health (MOH) reported one new possible cast of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Beijing on April 28,2004, bringing the total to nine possible cases. This new possible case was in a person known to have been in close contact with a 20-year-old nurse who was previously reported as a “confirmed” case by the Chinese Government.

Chinese health authorities also reported that two additional cases that were previously listed as “suspect” now meet the MOH criteria for “confirmed” SARS. Of the nine reported cases in China, four are classified by Chinese health authorities as “confirmed” and five are Listed as “suspected.” According to World Health organization (WHO) guidelines for the global surveillance of SARS, classification as a confirmed case at the start of an outbreak requires independent verification of results by an external international reference laboratory. Such procedures are considered by WHO to be necessary in view.of the implications that confirmed SARS cases can have for international public health.

Two of the nine patients worked at the National Institute of Virology Laboratory of China’s Centre for Disease Control in Beijing . The laboratory is known to conduct research on SARS corona virus (SARS-Co ). The laboratory has been closed, potentially exposed personnel are being screened, and possible sources of inflection for the two laboratory workers are being investigated.

Chinese authorities are currently involved in active surveillance activities to identify other possible cases of SARS, including enhanced surveillance for any flu­like illness and pneumonia of un known etiology. They have also initiated measures to prevent the spread of SARS among travelers including health screening of travelers at ports of entry.

Canada is also distributing SARS Heal the Alert Notices (i.e., health information cards describing SARS) at major ports of entry to arriving passengers from China. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is prepared to respond at U.S. ports of entry including the distribution of SARS Health Alert Notices if there is an increase in SARS-Co V activity. CDC is closely monitoring the situation in China and neighboring countries and remains in close contact with international partners to determine the timing and type of response required.

According to the Taiwanese Centre for Disease Control, an elderly man who developed fever and pneumonia after returning to Tai wan from China on April 24 was evaluated for possible SARS. Testing for SARS-Co V was reported to be negative.

On April 28, 2004 CDC sent an email letter to laboratories to which it had previously shipped live SARS-Co V. The letter alerts the laboratories about the possible laboratory-acquired SARS-Co V infections in China; reminds laboratories of the need to strictly adhere to bio-safety level 3 procedures while working with the virus; and provides web links to documents that outline laboratory procedures to be followed while working with SARS-Co V.

Precautions are being taken and extensive research work is going on , but so far no evidential cure is available . A challenge to the man who considers himself equivalent to the Almighty.