SARS Coronavirus - SARS

SARS

SARS, or Severe acute respiratory syndrome, is the disease caused by SARS coronavirus. It causes an often severe illness marked initially by systemic symptoms of muscle pain, headache, and fever, followed in 2–10 days by the onset of respiratory symptoms, mainly cough, dyspnea, and pneumonia. Another common finding in SARS patients is a decrease in the number of lymphocytes circulating in the blood.

In the SARS outbreak of 2003, about 9% of patients with confirmed SARS infection died. The mortality rate was much higher for those over 50 years old, with mortality rates approaching 50% for this subset of patients.