Previous Health Alerts - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Health alert in returned travellers

Issued: 16 March 2003

During the past week, the World Health Organisation has received reports of more than 150 new suspected cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an atypical pneumonia for which cause has not yet been determined. Reports to date have been received from Canada, China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The exact nature of the infection is still under investigation and this guidance is based on the early information available.

A suspected case is a person presenting with history of:

• High fever (greater than 38°C)

AND

• One or more respiratory symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing

AND one or more of the following:

• Close contact* with a person who has been diagnosed with SARS
• Recent history of travel within the last 14 days to areas reporting cases of SARS

A probable case is:

• A suspect case with chest x-ray findings of pneumonia or Respiratory Distress Syndrome

OR

• A person with an unexplained respiratory illness resulting in death, with an autopsy examination demonstrating the pathology of Respiratory Distress Syndrome without an identifiable cause.

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In addition to fever and respiratory symptoms, SARS may be associated with other symptoms including: headache, muscular stiffness, loss of appetite, malaise, confusion, rash, and diarrhoea.

It is recommended that patients with SARS be isolated with standard precautions and additional respiratory precautions and treated as clinically indicated.

Laboratory samples that should be collected include:

• Dry swabs of both nostrils and the throat placed in Viral Transport Medium for respiratory pathogen PCR
• Sputum for culture and a baseline blood (serum) for respiratory pathogen serology.

Laboratory samples should be forwarded to the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (10 Wreckyn St, North Melbourne) and marked "Suspected SARS Case".

Please report all suspected cases to the Communicable Diseases Section on 1300 651 160.

Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available. Information from the WHO is available at: www.who.int/en/

Dr Robert Hall
Chief Health Officer

*Close contact means having cared for, having lived with, or having had direct contact with respiratory secretions and body fluids of a person with SARS.

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