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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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In this Article

• Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) facts
• What is severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)?
• What causes SARS? How is SARS transmitted?
• What are risk factors for SARS?
• What are SARS symptoms and signs?
• How is SARS diagnosed?
• What is the treatment for SARS?
• What is the prognosis of SARS?
• Can SARS be prevented?
• Where can people get more information about SARS?
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Index

During the pandemic, approximately 25% of people with SARS developed severe respiratory failure or ARDS. In the general population, people with SARS had approximately a 10% chance of dying. Deaths in children were rare. However, up to 50% of people with underlying medical conditions died; people over 50 years old also had a similar death rate. Unfortunately, many people who eventually recover from SARS have pulmonary fibrosis, osteoporosis, and femoral necrosis and are disabled, according to reports from China.

The SARS pandemic was brought to an abrupt end by simple public-health measures. Human-to-human spread of the disease can be prevented by isolating infected patients in private rooms and using protective measures when caring for them. Specifically, caretakers should wear surgical masks, gowns to protect their clothing, and gloves to protect their hands. Hands should be washed before and after caring for infected patients. Mildly ill people can be cared for at home, but severe illness requires hospitalization.

The key to preventing another outbreak is to identify the first infected patients promptly before they have time to spread the illness more widely. People who have been exposed to an infected individual should be carefully monitored for fever or respiratory symptoms. Exposure is defined as living with or caring for an infected person, being within 3 feet of the sick person, exposure to bodily fluids, or direct physical contact. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not mandate quarantine measures for exposed individuals who are otherwise healthy and allows this decision to be handled on a case-by-case basis. Local public-health authorities should be consulted promptly when the diagnosis is suspected. If a significant outbreak of SARS occurs again, people may be advised to maintain a distance from others in the community ("social distancing") by avoiding large gatherings or significant close contact with others. However, isolation (self-imposed or quarantine) methods have been effective in prevention of SARS spread.

Prevention ultimately requires a systematic approach to infectious diseases within countries and significant cooperation among countries. Scientists are working to create a vaccine against SARS, which would be helpful if another pandemic occurs.