The first reported case of SARS was in Asia in February 2003. During the following months, the unknown illness spread throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia.
According to the World Health Organization over 8,098 people were infected with the SARS disease, and of those people 774 died.The symptoms of SARS are very similar to that of the symptoms of the Influenza disease. SARS patients will notice an unusually high temperature followed by a headache, body aches, and overall discomfort. Your symptoms, if not treated, may turn into pneumonia.
Also, like the Influenza disease, SARS spreads by close person to person contact, and more specifically SARS is built up in the respiratory tract, so when a person coughs or sneezes, a person in close contact will be more likely to contract the disease.
The disease can also spread when an uninfected person touches a surface or area that was recently touch by an infected person.
If you were put in close contact with someone who had the SARS disease, you would be more susceptible to contracting the disease. For instance, if you lived with or cared for someone who had the SARS disease, then you would be considered at high risk.
- Activated in Emergency Operations Center which would provide 24 hour coordination and response.
- Provided 800 experts to work on the SARS response team
- Deployed medical professionals to assist with investigations around the world
- Provided assistance to state and local health departments in investigating causes of the SARS outbreak
- Conducted testing of specimen from SARS patients to identify the cause of the disease
- Distributed Health Alert notices to travelers who may have been exposed to cases of SARS
You can put your mind at ease though, since the one outbreak of the SARS disease, there have not been any recurring cases. And like most other diseases, they will eventually die out or mutate into something else. Lucky for us, it did not mutate into something more threatening, nor did it go beyond the confines of the infected areas. All infected areas did a sufficient job in keeping from contaminating a devastating number of people.
This is not to say that a different strain of the SARS disease will eventually pop up again, but based on how it was handled, it is safe to say that the government of countries around the world are prepared to handle a situation similar.
But make sure if you are feeling any of the symptoms of the SARS disease, be quick to report it, so you can be properly diagnosed and treated before it is too late.