Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is an atypical form of pneumonia. It first appeared in November 2002 in Guangdong Province, China. SARS is now known to be caused by the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), a novel coronavirus. SARS has a mortality rate of around 10%.

Related Topics:
Pneumonia - 2002 - Guangdong - China - SARS coronavirus - Coronavirus

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After the People's Republic of China suppressed news of the outbreak both internally and abroad, the disease spread rapidly, reaching neighbouring Hong Kong and Vietnam in late February 2003, and then to other countries via international travellers. The last case in this outbreak occurred in June 2003. There were a total of 8,069 cases of disease and 775 deaths.

Related Topics:
People's Republic of China - Hong Kong - Vietnam - 2003

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In May 2005, The New York Times wrote that "not a single case of severe acute respiratory syndrome has been reported this year or in late 2004. It is the first winter without a case since the initial outbreak in late 2002. In addition, the epidemic strain of SARS that caused at least 774 deaths worldwide by June of 2003 has not been seen outside a laboratory since then." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/health/15sars.html

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For a timeline of the SARS outbreak, see Progress of the SARS outbreak.

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