STORY BYThe death toll from severe acute respiratory syndrome continues to grow, and each day there are more suspected cases of the new viral disease, which has created fear among air travelers and stunted tourism in areas of the world where outbreaks are the worst.
The facts about SARS have been grim, indeed, but infectious disease specialists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston believe good news about diagnostic tools, treatment and prevention is soon to come.
Herbert DuPont, M.D., director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston, said scientists have been working around the clock to learn all they can about this pathogen.
Already, researchers have identified the genetic sequence of this new virulent strain of coronavirus – which often causes the common cold.
“This is the first step toward getting it under control,” DuPont says. “Very soon, they will be able to develop a diagnostic test, and within months, I predict we’ll have drugs and vaccines that protect against SARS.”
That’s not the only good news. Given the nature of viruses, which tend to be seasonal, DuPont expects the number of SARS cases soon will begin to taper off.
“Most respiratory viral infections go away during the summer,” DuPont says. “It’s very similar to the flu. It has its season, and then six months go by before you see another case.”
SARS surfaced in China in November 2002, but it wasn’t until March that the World Health Organization recognized it as an epidemiological problem with the potential to spread throughout the world. By mid-April, there were more than 3,000 suspected cases worldwide and more than 150 deaths, most of which were in Southern China, Hong Kong, Hanoi and Singapore.
Symptoms include a fever that is greater than 100.4 degrees, headache, discomfort and body aches. Some people also experience mild respiratory symptoms. After two to seven days, SARS patients may develop a dry cough and have trouble breathing.
“A small number of patients eventually have shortness of breath and respiratory distress,” says Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at UT-Houston and medical director for epidemiology at Memorial Hermann Hospital. “They require mechanical ventilation to help them breathe, and eventually they go in to shock and die.”
What makes the disease so frightening, Ostrosky-Zeichner says, is that it can strike otherwise healthy people and is highly contagious. The majority of patients thus far have been between the ages of 18 and 64 who had recently traveled to areas where the outbreaks are believed to have originated.
There also is a concern about “super spreaders” -- people who are highly contagious but exhibit few symptoms. “If you are feeling bad, you generally want to stay in bed, but if you aren’t too sick, you can go about your business and without even knowing it, spread the disease to hundreds of people who you come in to contact with,” Ostrosky-Zeichner explains.
At first, it was believed that travelers to affected areas, their immediate family and health care workers who treated them were most at risk for developing SARS. However, because of super spreaders, researchers now believe there is a risk of the virus being spread in the workplace, schools and public areas. Ostrosky-Zeichner says this is only one of the theories to explain such high spread of the disease in a short period of time.
Ostrosky-Zeichner and DuPont agree that for now, the best way to protect against SARS is to avoid travel to Southern China and Hong Kong. If travel is absolutely essential, they recommend gloves, protective eyewear and an N-95 mask to prevent the spread of infectious droplets.
The doctors also recommend frequent hand-washing. If someone suspects that he or she has SARS, that person should immediately seek medical attention. As soon as they get to a medical facility, they should alert health care workers that they have traveled to an area that is deemed a risk for contracting SARS.
If SARS is suspected, the patient will be quarantined in a negative-pressure room so that other patients and staff in the hospital are not affected.
“You should really take this seriously,” Ostrosky-Zeichner says. “We have learned a great deal about SARS in a short amount of time, but there is still a lot we don’t know. We still don’t have an effective way to treat it, and until we do, the best thing you can do is limit your exposure by not traveling to areas where there are outbreaks.”
UPDATED: 4-17-2003
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Dr. Herbert DuPont is director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the UT School of Public Health.
See Dr. DuPont also at:
Dr. Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner is an assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UT Medical School.
See Dr. Ostrosky also at:
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