Community Health in the Event of a Sars Outbreak
Community Health in the Event of a SARS Outbreak
The SARS Outbreak of 2003
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is a respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus, originally reported in Asia in February 2003 and spread to over two dozen countries before being contained (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2005). Once infected, individuals with SARS initially develop a high fever and other flu-like symptoms including headache, body aches and “overall feeling of discomfort” before, in most cases, progressing to pneumonia (CDC, 2005).
The disease was first diagnosed in a middle-aged man who had flown from China to Hong Kong. A few days after the announcement of the disease, rumors and panic began to spread, causing people to buy out food and supplies, as the Chinese government insisted the disease was under control and insisted on calm ("Timeline," 2003). As the disease killed the man and the physician diagnosing the disease, it continued to spread through multiple countries, infecting thousands of people and killing hundreds (“SARS,” 2011). By the end of the month, Hong Kong and Vietnam were reporting cases of severe and “atypical” pneumonia ("Timeline," 2003).
In March 2003, the WHO issued a global health alert and an emergency travel advisory, and United States officials encouraged all citizens to suspend non-essential travel to the affected countries and Singapore, Ontario and Hong Kong initiated home quarantine ("Timeline," 2003). Schools in Southeast Asia closed and there were significant economic effects as well as air travel stalled and business worldwide was affected. In April, countries threatened to quarantine entire planeloads of people if anyone on board showed symptoms, and others threatened jail time for those who obstruct the attempts to control the disease ("Timeline," 2003). On April 3, 2003, SARS became a communicable disease for which a healthy person suspected of being infected in the United States could be quarantined
The SARS Outbreak of 2003
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is a respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus, originally reported in Asia in February 2003 and spread to over two dozen countries before being contained (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2005). Once infected, individuals with SARS initially develop a high fever and other flu-like symptoms including headache, body aches and “overall feeling of discomfort” before, in most cases, progressing to pneumonia (CDC, 2005).
The disease was first diagnosed in a middle-aged man who had flown from China to Hong Kong. A few days after the announcement of the disease, rumors and panic began to spread, causing people to buy out food and supplies, as the Chinese government insisted the disease was under control and insisted on calm ("Timeline," 2003). As the disease killed the man and the physician diagnosing the disease, it continued to spread through multiple countries, infecting thousands of people and killing hundreds (“SARS,” 2011). By the end of the month, Hong Kong and Vietnam were reporting cases of severe and “atypical” pneumonia ("Timeline," 2003).
In March 2003, the WHO issued a global health alert and an emergency travel advisory, and United States officials encouraged all citizens to suspend non-essential travel to the affected countries and Singapore, Ontario and Hong Kong initiated home quarantine ("Timeline," 2003). Schools in Southeast Asia closed and there were significant economic effects as well as air travel stalled and business worldwide was affected. In April, countries threatened to quarantine entire planeloads of people if anyone on board showed symptoms, and others threatened jail time for those who obstruct the attempts to control the disease ("Timeline," 2003). On April 3, 2003, SARS became a communicable disease for which a healthy person suspected of being infected in the United States could be quarantined
References: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2005). Basic information about SARS. Retrieved December 17, 2011, from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/factsheet.htm Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Control of Communicable Diseases Code, State of IL Administrative Code § 690 (2008). Executive order 13295: Revised list of quarantinable communicable diseases. (2003). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/executiveorder040403.htm Kamps, B SARS: Surveillance and reporting. (2005). Retrieved December 17, 2011, from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/reporting.htm Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) Timeline: SARS outbreak. (2003). Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2003-04-24/health/timeline.sars_1_sars-outbreak-hong-kong-s-hospital-authority-mysterious-respiratory-disease?_s=PM:HEALTH WHO: SARS outbreaks contained World Health Organization: Department of Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response. (2003). Consensus document on the epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/csr/sars/WHOconsensus.pdf