SARS Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

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Original Editor - Lucinda hampton

Top Contributors - Lucinda hampton and Rishika Babburu  

Introduction

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease caused by a SARS-associated coronavirus. It was first identified at the end of February 2003 during an outbreak that emerged in China and spread to 4 other countries.

• Airborne virus and can spread through small droplets of saliva in a similar way to the cold and influenza. It was the first severe and readily transmissible new disease to emerge in the 21st century and showed a clear capacity to spread along the routes of international air travel.
• Can also be spread indirectly via surfaces that have been touched by someone who is infected with the virus.
• Most patients identified with SARS were previously healthy adults aged 25–70 years.

Image: Colorized transmission electron micrograph of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus particles (orange) found near the periphery of an infected cell (green).

Etiology

SARS-CoV is thought to have jumped from an animal reservoir in the horseshoe bat through an intermediate host in the palm civet and then to humans.

• Coronaviruses are named for their crown-like glycoprotein spikes on their surface.
• Coronaviruses are large single-stranded RNA viruses that have helical nucleocapsids.
• They are usually associated with humans with the common cold, though, and in animals, they’re linked with a highly virulent disease

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