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The disease spreads from person to person. It often begins with a high fever, headache and sore throat. Other possible symptoms include loss of appetite, confusion, rash and diarrhea. Not everyone has reacted the same way.
The WHO said doctors are on the lookout for those symptoms with:
• a fever over 38 C AND
• cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing AND
• close contact with someone diagnosed with SARS or a history of travel to affected areas, including Toronto , Vancouver , Guangdong province in China , Hong Kong , Singapore and Hanoi , Vietnam.
The respiratory symptoms appear two to seven days after exposure.
Health officials in Ontario say relying on exposure to known contacts of cases is no longer reliable. All respiratory illnesses should be treated as SARS until proven otherwise.
What causes SARS?
On April 16, the WHO identified the virus that causes SARS. Researchers said the coronavirus is new to humans but scientists haven’t been able to find it in all probable specimens, an important step in confirming the cause.
Scientists in the Netherlands infected monkeys with the coronavirus suspected of causing SARS. The animals developed the same symptoms as humans with SARS, a crucial step in verifying the cause of the disease.
Canadian and then U.S. scientists mapped the genome of the SARS coronavirus. Now researchers in Hong Kong are looking for genetic mutations that may make the virus more virulent.
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong say SARS probably spread to humans from animals. They’re testing pigs and poultry for the virus.
What do the restrictions mean?
On March 31, Ontario expanded its SARS-related restrictions on Toronto hospitals to cover the whole province.
The measures include:
• restricting visitors
• screening people entering hospitals for signs on SARS
• having security personnel and police staff available to enforce these precautions
• suspending non-urgent transfers between health care facilities
• developing a patient transfer protocol
• ensuring health workers wear personal protection
As a precaution, on March 26 Toronto ‘s medical officer of health recommended everyone who has visited Scarborough Grace Hospital since March 16 should stay in their home for 10 days from the time of the visit. Their family members may go to work or school, but must wear a mask when at home and in contact with those who are at risk of infection.
Infected health workers and hospital visitors have been quarantined, meaning they cannot go to school or work, buy groceries etc.
Hospital visitors are unlikely to have had direct contact with SARS patients and they have “a very low risk of exposure.” Health officials said isolating cases is a priority, and the extraordinary measures are the only way to manage the disease and protect people. Anyone who suspects they may have come into contact with a SARS case should call their local health authority. Community assesment clinics have opened in the Greater Toronto Area. People with symptoms of SARS can go to the clinic to be assessed in an area isolated from the rest of the hospital.
How are patients being treated?
In Toronto , those suspected of having SARS are being quarantined in rooms with a controlled air supply, said Dr. Simor.
Anyone who goes into the room wears a special mask to filter out pathogens, as well as gloves and a gown. Hand washing is also important.
Keystone said the simple masks people are wearing in Hong Kong would stop large droplets, but masks wouldn’t work against fine, aerosol droplets.
In Toronto , Simor said, patients are being treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics (in case it is caused by an as-yet unrecognized bacteria), and two antiviral drugs. One antiviral drug fights influenza and the other is a broad-spectrum antiviral that may have helped patients in Hong Kong .
http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/background/sars.html#symptoms