FACT SHEET

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

THE SARS OUTBREAK

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) emerged in China in November 2002, and became the first global pandemic of the 21^st century. The SARS outbreak originated in the Guangdong province of southern China, and resulted in a global outbreak that infected 8,098 people in 26 countries (including Canada and the United States) with 774 deaths (case fatality rate ~ 9.5%) between November 2002, and July 5, 2003.

• SARS is caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.
• During the initial outbreak investigations, the first human cases were found to have had contact with animals sold in live animal, or "wet markets," in Guangdong.
• The SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was isolated from masked palm civets (Paguma larvata), while antibodies to SARS-CoV were found in several other species of animal, including bats, making these data inconclusive.
• Civets, which are commercially farmed in China, were blamed for SARS. The Chinese government initiated a ban on civet sales and an eradication program to prevent further transmission to humans.
• While there have been no human cases of SARS identified since July 5th, 2003, the natural reservoir for the virus, and thus the risk of future outbreaks remained unknown.
• Civets are no longer banned from sale in markets and the live market system is still widespread throughout China.

Quick Facts

Etiology: coronavirus (SARS-CoV)

First Emerged: Guangdong, China, November, 2002

Outbreak duration: Nov, 2002 - July 5, 2003

Mode of Transmission: Feces and respiratory secretions

Number of people infected: 8,098

Mortality rate: 9.5% (774 deaths)

No. of countries affected: 26
[ for a complete list of countries and case numbers see: http://www.who.int/csr/sars/country/table2004_04_21/en/ ]

Costs: SARS cost $50 billion (US$) to the global economy

Additional resources

The Consortium for Conservation Medicine: www.conservationmedicine.org

Wildlife Trust: www.wildlifetrust.org

The Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: http://www.whiov.ac.cn/englishpag/eng.htm

The Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences: http://www.gibh.ac.cn/

CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory: www.csiro.au

The World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov

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