Conclusions

In November 2002, the first cases of a new atypical pneumonia appeared in Guangdong province in southeastern China. In February 2003, a doctor from Guangdong who was unknowingly infected with the new virus travelled to Hong Kong and checked into the Metropole Hotel. He soon became sick and died in a hospital within two weeks. During his short stay at the Metropole, he infected several other hotel guests who then took SARS with them back to Toronto, Singapore and Hanoi. Over the next eight months, the disease killed about 775 people in 29 countries.

The respiratory illness was eventually identified as a new and deadly coronavirus thought to have emerged from bats. The virus then spread to civets and eventually to humans. After a massive global public health effort, SARS was contained and, on July 5, 2003, WHO announced that all person-to-person transmission had ceased.

Resources

Infection control in healthcare and community settings
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/guide/infectcont98.htm
and
https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/index.html

SARS Outbreaks
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5211a5.htm
and
http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC). (2020a). Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings. Retrieved March 23, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/providers/index.html.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC). (2020b). Hand Hygiene Guidance. Retrieved March 24, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/providers/guideline.html.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC). (2018). Management and Prevention Guidelines. Retrieved March 24, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/pneumonia/management-prevention-guidelines.html.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC). (2017). SARS Basics Fact Sheet. Retrieved March 20, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/sars/about/fs-sars.html.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC). (2013). SARS Response Timeline. Retrieved March 22, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/about/history/sars/timeline.htm.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC). (2005). Guidance for Persons Who May Have Been Exposed to SARS. Retrieved March 25, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/sars/infection/exposure.html.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC). (2005a). Guidelines for Collecting Specimens from Potential SARS Patients. Appendix F4. Retrieved March 24, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/sars/guidance/F-lab/app4-fig1.html.

Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC). (2020). Coronavirus vs. SARS: Health experts on the key differences between the two outbreaks. Retrieved March 21, 2020 from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/28/coronavirus-vs-sars-health-experts-on-the-key-differences.html.

Emerging Infectious Diseases. (2004). SARS and Common Viral Infections. Retrieved March 21, 2020 from https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/6/pdfs/03-0863.pdf.

Healthline. (2020). Lung Consolidation: What It Is and How It’s Treated. Retrieved March 21, 2020 from https://www.healthline.com/health/lung-consolidation.

National Institutes of Health (NIH). (2020). NIH officials discuss novel coronavirus that recently emerged in China. Retrieved February 4, 2020 from https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-officials-discuss-novel-coronavirus-recently-emerged-china

National Institutes of Health. (NIH). (2020a). Coronaviruses. Retrieved February 18, 2020 from https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/coronaviruses.

National Institutes of Health. (NIH). (2018). NIH study shows how MERS coronavirus evolves to infect different species. Retrieved February 21, 2020 from https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-shows-how-mers-coronavirus-evolves-infect-different-species.

National Public Radio (NPR). (2020). How Hong Kong beat SARS: Lessons learned. Retrieved March 23, 2020 from https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/04/802701836/how-hong-kong-beat-sars-lessons-learned.

Hu B, et al. (2017). Discovery of a rich gene pool of bat SARS-related coronaviruses provides new insights into the origin of SARS coronavirus. PloS Pathogens. Retrieved March 21, 2020 from https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1006698.

World Health Organization (WHO). (2020). Preliminary Clinical Description of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Retrieved March 24 2020 from https://www.who.int/csr/sars/clinical/en/.

World Health Organization (WHO). (2013). Cumulative Number of Reported Probable Cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) From: 1 Nov 20021 to: 28 Apr 2003. Retrieved March 22, 2020 from https://www.who.int/csr/sars/country/2003_05_17/en/.

World Health Organization (WHO), and Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN). (2005). Strengthening health security by implementing the International Health Regulations. Retrieved March 25, 2020 from https://www.who.int/csr/outbreaknetwork/guidingprinciples/en/.