Diagnostic Methods on the Detection of SARS Virus

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An emerging infectious disease known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)  originated in the Guangdong province of southern China in November 2002 (Stadler et al. 2004). A Chinese doctor who had been treating patients in Guangdong was called a “super spreader” being the first carrier of the virus and spread the infection when he travelled to Hong Kong on 21 February 2003 (Stadler et al. 2004). The outbreak began when the Chinese doctor checked in the Hotel Metropole and developed respiratory tract symptoms 1 week before of his arrival (Wong and Hui 2018). He was administered to the hospital on 22 February 2003 and died the following day (Stadler et al. 2004). Subsequently, he passed on the SARS virus to eight major people who stayed at the hotel and these infected people had also become a “super spreader”. These infected people started to spread the viral disease in countries such as Canada, Singapore, Vietnam and United States as seen in Table 1 (Wong and Hui 2018), making SARS the first contagious disease to be transmitted by air travel (Stadler et al. 2004).

Table 1      Cumulated number of reported probable cases of SARS in 2003

As seen in Table 1, in 2003, there were 250 reported cases in Canada, 5,327 in China, 1,755 in Hong Kong, 671 in Taiwan, 206 in Russia, 75 in United States and 63 in Vietnam. The total number of cases in various countries were 8,437 with 813 deaths and 7,452 recovered from SARS. (Lee and McKibbin 2004)

An emerging infectious disease known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)  originated in the Guangdong province of southern China in November 2002 (Stadler et al. 2004). A Chinese doctor who had been treating patients in Guangdong was called a “super spreader” being the first carrier of the virus and spread the infection when he travelled to Hong Kong on 21 February 2003 (Stadler et al. 2004). The outbreak began when the Chinese doctor checked in the Hotel Metropole and developed respiratory tract symptoms 1 week before of his arrival (Wong and Hui 2018). He was administered to the hospital on 22 February 2003 and died the following day (Stadler et al. 2004). Subsequently, he passed on the SARS virus to eight major people who stayed at the hotel and these infected people had also become a “super spreader”. These infected people started to spread the viral disease in countries such as Canada, Singapore, Vietnam and United States as seen in Table 1 (Wong and Hui 2018), making SARS the first contagious disease to be transmitted by air travel (Stadler et al. 2004).

Table 1      Cumulated number of reported probable cases of SARS in 2003

As seen in Table 1, in 2003, there were 250 reported cases in Canada, 5,327 in China, 1,755 in Hong Kong, 671 in Taiwan, 206 in Russia, 75 in United States and 63 in Vietnam. The total number of cases in various countries were 8,437 with 813 deaths and 7,452 recovered from SARS. (Lee and McKibbin 2004)