Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Overview Of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is a serious form of pneumonia. Infection with the SARS virus causes acute respiratory distress (severe breathing difficulty), and sometimes death.

This article is about the outbreak of SARS that occurred in 2003. For information about the 2019 coronavirus outbreak, please see the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Commonly Associated With

Respiratory failure – SARS; SARS coronavirus; SARS-CoV

Causes Of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

SARS is caused by the SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). It is one of the coronavirus family of viruses (the same family that can cause the common cold). An epidemic of SARS started in 2003 when the virus spread from small mammals to people in China. This outbreak quickly reached global proportions but was contained in 2003. No new cases of SARS have been reported since 2004.

When someone with SARS coughs or sneezes, infected droplets spray into the air. You can catch the SARS virus if you breathe in or touch these particles. The SARS virus may live on hands, tissues, and other surfaces for up to several hours in these droplets. The virus may be able to live for months or years when the temperature is below freezing.

While the spread of droplets through close contact caused most of the early SARS cases, SARS might also spread by hands and other objects the droplets has touched. Airborne transmission is a real possibility in some cases. Live virus has even been found in the stool of people with SARS, where it has been shown to live for up to 4 days.

With other coronaviruses, becoming infected and then getting sick again (reinfection) is common. This may also be the case with SARS.

Symptoms usually occur about 2 to 10 days after coming in contact with the virus. In some cases, SARS started sooner or later after first contact. People with active symptoms of illness are contagious. But it is not known for how long a person may be contagious after symptoms appear.

Symptoms Of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

The main symptoms are:

  • Cough
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Fever of 100.4°F (38.0°C) or higher
  • Other breathing symptoms

The most common symptoms are:

  • Chills and shaking
  • Cough usually starts 2 to 7 days after other symptoms
  • Headache
  • Muscle aches
  • Tiredness

Less common symptoms include:

  • Cough that produces phlegm (sputum)
  • Diarrhea
  • Dizziness
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • In some people, the lung symptoms get worse during the second week of illness, even after the fever has stopped.

Exams & Tests

Your health care provider may hear abnormal lung sounds while listening to your chest with a stethoscope. In most people with SARS, a chest x-ray or chest CT show pneumonia, which is typical with SARS.

Tests used to diagnose SARS might include:

  • Arterial blood tests
  • Blood clotting tests
  • Blood chemistry tests
  • Chest x-ray or chest CT scan
  • Complete blood count (CBC)

Tests used to quickly identify the virus that causes SARS include:

  • Antibody tests for SARS
  • Direct isolation of the SARS virus
  • Rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for SARS virus
  • All current tests have some limitations. They may not be able to easily identify a SARS case during the first week of the illness when it is most important to identify it.

Treatment Of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

People who are thought to have SARS should be checked right away by a provider. If they are suspected of having SARS, they should be kept isolated in a hospital.

Treatment may include:

  • Antibiotics to treat bacteria that cause pneumonia (until bacterial pneumonia is ruled out or if there is bacterial pneumonia in addition to SARS)
  • Antiviral medicines (although how well they work for SARS is unknown)
  • High doses of steroids to reduce swelling in the lungs (it is not known how well they work)
  • Oxygen, breathing support (mechanical ventilation), or chest therapy
  • In some serious cases, the liquid part of the blood from people who have already recovered from SARS has been given as a treatment.
  • There is no strong evidence that these treatments work well. There is evidence that the antiviral medicine, ribavirin, does not work.