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- Overview
- Symptoms
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SARS
Definition
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a serious form of pneumonia. It is caused by a virus that was first identified in 2003. Infection with the SARS virus causes
SARS is a dramatic example of how quickly world travel can spread a disease. It is also an example of how quickly a connected health system can respond to a new health threat.
Background Information:
World Health Organization (WHO) physician Dr. Carlo Urbani identified SARS as a new disease in 2003. He diagnosed it in a 48-year-old businessman who had traveled from the Guangdong province of China, through Hong Kong, to Hanoi, Vietnam. The businessman and the doctor who first diagnosed SARS both died from the illness.
In the meantime, SARS was spreading. Quickly it infected thousands of people around the world, including people in Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa, and North and South America. Schools closed throughout Hong Kong and Singapore. National economies were affected.
Review Date: 02/19/2011
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of
General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington
School of Medicine; and Denis Hadjiliadis, MD, Assistant Professor
of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Also reviewed by
David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
