Severe acute respiratory syndrome

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS is a respiratory viral infection caused by the highly Infectious SARS-CoV coronavirus. It is a potentially deadly illness that quickly spread around the world in 2003, infecting around 8,000 people, with 9.6% of those infected dying. SARS causes flu-like symptoms.

Symptoms
Symptoms are similar to the flu. About 1 in 5 people with SARS may also get diarrhea.
 * A fever over 100.4 F (38 C)
 * Chills
 * Muscle aches

Symptoms Can Worsen Fast

A dry cough can develop 2 to 7 days into the illness. This cough can keep the body from getting enough oxygen. 1 in 10 people with SARS will need a machine to help them breathe.

Can Lead to Other Health Problems People who are over age 60 and have chronic illness like diabetes or hepatitis are most likely to have these problems.
 * pneumonia
 * heart failure
 * liver failure

Post-SARS syndrome
The name post-SARS syndrome or Chronic post-SARS was proposed by Moldofsky et al. (2011) to describe those survivors of the 2003 SARS outbreak who remained too ill to work 8 years later. Moldofsky's described post-SARS syndrome as similar to fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, better known as ME/CFS. Post-SARS syndrome was described as chronic (lasting over 6 months), with persistent fatigue, widespread muscle pain, weakness, depression, and unrefreshing sleep with sleep apneas/hypopneas, sleep EEG abnormalities, post-sleep fatigue and post sleep sleepiness. An earlier study found that 27% of hospitalized SARS survivors in Hong Kong met the criteria for ME/CFS six years later, with the illness appearing immediately after patients contacted SARS.

ME/CFS
Lam et al. (2009) conducted a large long-term follow up of people needing hospital treatment for SARS in Hong Kong, and found that 40% reported chronic fatigue, and 27% of them and met the CDC's criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome, sometimes called ME/CFS, one year after recovery from SARS. This study found that the use of corticosteroids (steroids) in treating SARS was not associated with an increased likelihood of chronic fatigue, and the high rates of psychiatric problems did not explain high rates of chronic fatigue. Moldofsky et al. (2011) assessed 21 survivors of SARS from Toronto, Canada, who remained too ill to return to work, stating that chronic post-SARS was similar to fibromyalgia.

Notable studies

 * 2011, Chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, depression and disordered sleep in chronic post-SARS syndrome; a case-controlled study - (Full text)
 * 2010, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and Coronavirus - (Full text)
 * 2004, Pulmonary function and exercise capacity in survivors of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Full text)
 * 2009, Mental Morbidities and Chronic Fatigue in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Survivors: Long-term Follow-up - (Full text)
 * 2003, Consensus document on the epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) - (Full text)

Learn more

 * SARS: The Outbreak (2003) YouTube