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SARS: Global Alert, Global Response. PAHO Communicable Disease Unit. SARS: Clinical outcomes and management. 10% of patients require assisted breathing. 14% to 15% of all probable cases die (in 65 years of age and over, >50% die).
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SARS: Global Alert, Global Response PAHO Communicable Disease Unit
SARS: Clinical outcomes and management • 10% of patients require assisted breathing. • 14% to 15% of all probable cases die (in 65 years of age and over, >50% die). • 85% of patients are fully recovered by the tenth day after onset. • Antibiotics and antivirals appear to have no effect. • Health-care workers remain primary risk group in second-generation transmission. • There appears to be a spectrum of clinical illness, but transmission is associated with close contact with symptomatic patients. Environmental factors caused localized transmission in Hong Kong. • Some persons appear to transmit the infection better than others.
SARS:What we know about its transmission Second generation = Close direct contact with health-care workers (HCW) or others (family, visitors) Index case (first generation) • Close direct contact • Environmental factor, Hong Kong Third generation = Family members of HCW Fourth generation= Other contacts in community
SARS: Cumulative number of probable cases worldwide, 16 June (2003 Total: 8,460 cases, 799 deaths)
SARS:What we are learning • In the world today, an infectious disease in one country is a threat to all: infectious diseases do not respect national borders. • Information and travel guidance can contain the international spread of an infectious disease. • Infectious diseases outbreaks reveal weaknesses in public-health infrastructure. • Emerging infections can be contained with high-level government commitment and international collaboration, if necessary.
SARS:What we must continue to do in the future • Continued case identification through surveillance. • Necessary to determine whether infection is endemic and seasonal, or whether it has disappeared from human populations. • Continued collaborative studies in Guangdong province to identify animal reservoirs and risk factors for transmission to humans. • Necessary to manage the risk of transmission to human and prevent future outbreaks. • Continued strengthening of surveillance for influenza and other emerging infectious diseases. • Necessary to identify next major emergence of new influenza strain or other infection of national or international importance.