SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a viral disease newly identified as being infectious to humans in recent years. The first cases of SARS were identified in China in November 2002 after which it spread to other countries including the United States and Canada.
Symptoms of SARS are flu-like in nature and include fever, difficulty breathing, coughing and shortness of breath, in addition to headaches, muscle aches, sore throat and diarrhea. The disease is spread by close contact with those infected and has, in the past, particularly affected individuals in the medical profession that were involved in treating other infected persons.
SARS is caused by a previously unidentified strain of coronavirus and little else is known about the disease. There is no cure for the infection and no fast way of testing for it. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) close contact with infected individuals and their bodily secretions (typically exhaled aerosolized droplets) appears to be very important. It also appears that individuals infected are not contagious until they develop symptoms, which might take up to ten days after exposure.
The epidemic in 2002-2003 killed over 800 people worldwide and was surrounded by controversy because of the initial failure of the Chinese government to report it to WHO, and subsequent inacuracy of their reports in terms of how many had been affected and died.
