Is it severe acute respiratory syndrome?
A suspected case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) involves a patient with:
one of these symptoms:
- high fever (above 100.4°);
- one or more respiratory symptoms, including cough, shortness of breath, or difficulty breathing;
- close contact within
10 days of onset of symptoms with a person who has been diagnosed with SARS;
OR
- A history of travel, within 10 days of onset of symptoms, to an area where there has been a reported cluster of transmission of SARS (such as Hong Kong, Hanoi, Singapore, Toronto, Vancouver, or the Guangdong Province in China).
A probable case involves:
one of these symptoms:
- A suspected case with chest X-ray findings of pneumonia or respiratory distress syndrome.
- A person with an unexplained respiratory illness resulting in death, with an autopsy examination demonstrating the pathology of respiratory distress syndrome without an identifiable cause.
Other symptoms include:
- Headache, muscular stiffness, loss of appetite, malaise, confusion, rash, and diarrhea.
If you encounter a suspected or probable case:
- Report the information to your local or state public health department or call the CDC Emergency Operations Center at (770) 488-7100.
Infection control:
- "WHO advises strict adherence with the barrier nursing of patients with SARS using precautions for airborne, droplet, and contact transmission. Triage nurses should rapidly divert people presenting to their health care facility with flulike symptoms to a separate assessment area to minimize transmission to others in the waiting room. Suspected cases should wear surgical masks until SARS is excluded."
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta; World Health Organization, Geneva.
This article outlines symptoms of suspected and probable cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Article Limit Reached
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content