SARS

Preventing the spread of SARS

Avoid travelling to areas of the world where there's an uncontrolled SARS outbreak.

To reduce your risk ofbecoming infected, avoid direct contact with people withSARS until at least 10 days after their symptoms have gone.

To avoid spreading the infection, it's important to follow the prevention advice outlined below:

wash your hands thoroughlyusing an alcohol-based hand detergent
cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough
avoid sharing food, drink and utensils
regularly clean surfaces with disinfectant

In some situationsit may be appropriate to wear gloves, masks and goggles to helpprevent the spread of SARS.

The Travel Health Pro website also has travel advice by country .

Medically Reviewed by a doctor on 21 Dec 2018

Articles for sars

Introduction

Read about severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a highly contagious, serious and potentially life threatening form of pneumonia.

The SARS pandemic

SARS originated in China in 2002. It's thought a strain of the coronavirus usually only found in small mammals mutated, enabling it to infect humans. The SARS infection quickly spread from China to o

Viral mutations

Like all living things, viruses are constantly changing and evolving. A mutation iswhere genetic information stored inside an organism changes. Many global outbreaks of infectious illnesses (pandemic

How SARS is spread

SARS is an airborne virus, which means it's spread in a similar way to colds and flu . The SARS virus is spread in small droplets of saliva coughed or sneezed into the air by an infected person. If s

Symptoms of SARS

SARS has flu-like symptoms that usuallybegin two to seven days after infection. In some cases, the time between exposure to the virus and the onset of symptoms (incubation period)can be up to 10 days

Treatment for SARS

There's currently no cure for SARS, but research to find a vaccine is ongoing. A person suspected of having SARS should be admitted to hospital immediately and kept in isolation under close observati

Preventing the spread of SARS

Avoid travelling to areas of the world where there's an uncontrolled SARS outbreak. To reduce your risk ofbecoming infected, avoid direct contact with people withSARS until at least 10 days after the

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