what is sars

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus called SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). It was first identified in Asia in February 2003 and spread to more than two dozen countries in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia before the SARS global outbreak of 2003 was contained. SARS is an airborne virus and can spread through small droplets of saliva in a similar way to the cold and influenza. The main symptoms of SARS include fever, headache, body aches, and dry cough, and most patients develop pneumonia. SARS can be spread through close person-to-person contact, respiratory droplets, and contaminated surfaces. Controlling outbreaks relies on containment measures including prompt detection of cases, isolation of suspected cases, tracing to identify the source of the infection and contacts of those who are sick, quarantine of suspected contacts, and exit screening for outgoing passengers from areas with recent outbreaks. Since 2004, there have not been any known cases of SARS reported anywhere in the world