Section 1 Infectious atypical pneumonia

Introduction of SARS

Infectious atypical pneumonia，also known as severe acute respiratory syndrome（SARS），is an acute infectious respiratory disease caused by SARS coronavirus（SARS-CoV）.

The disease has certain infectivity and the patient is the primary source of infection. Patients in incubation period are low or not infectious and patients in rehabilitation period are without infection. No chronic patient has been found. The disease can be transmitted by droplets in short distance or contact with respiratory secretions. The crowd is generally susceptible and the health care workers are at high risk of this disease.

The disease has an acute onset with fever as the first symptom，occasionally accompanied by feeling chilly. Patients can have symptoms like headache，joint pain，body aches and weakness at the same time. There are obvious respiratory symptoms such as nonproductive cough and less sputum. Most patients have mild symptoms，while some patients have accelerated respiration，shortness of breath and other symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection. Some individual patients occasionally have bloody sputum. The incubation period is 1-16 days，common for 3-5 days. It was initially found in Guangdong province in November 2002，and its clinical manifestations are similar to those of other atypical pneumonia. But it is with strong infectiousness. Therefore，it is named as infectious atypical pneumonia.

SARS流行病学个案调查表

Epidemiological Questionnaire for Cases of SARS

Questionnaire

SARS病例密切接触者流行病学调查表

Epidemiological Questionnaire of SARS Close Contact

（本节编者-陆剑云　本节核对-龙佳丽）