You Need to Know

IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS

SARS is one of the most dangerous viruses on the face of the earth. SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

It infects the lungs. It is one of the most dangerous and contagious diseases on the face of the earth because it is most often fatal.

The first appearance of SARS was discovered in China recently  in November of late 2002.

Within an extremely important period of time, only six weeks, the SARS virus had spread throughout the entire world. It was mainly spread by international travelers that did not know they had contracted the disease.

During that period of time the World Health Organization or WHO, said that close to 8,000 people were infected. Along with those infections a total of eight hundred people died of the SARS syndrome. During this initial outbreak the entire world was in a complete panic. The world was concerned over the fact that the virus could have turned into a global pandemic. The good thing is that this pandemic never occurred and there has not been an outbreak of SARS since 2004.

SARS has many signs and symptoms that are associated with it.

When someone first contracts SARS they have a low fever.

This symptom usually does not start until ten days after the virus is contracted. Some of the most obvious signs of contraction of the SARS disease is a headache and muscle soreness. Another symptom that some people get is chills or discomfort.

Many people develop a small, dry cough after approximately five days. Some cases of SARS can develop into bad cases of pneumonia resulting in depleted oxygen levels in the blood. If you do have SARS you should stay home because you don’t want to start a global pandemic! After symptoms go away, you should still stay home for approximately ten days to ensure that your illness is gone.

Knowing when to see a doctor can sometimes be difficult. If you have any of the signs or symptoms of SARS you should immediately seek medical assistance. Part of saving yourself from SARS is catching it early. If you let SARS go untreated for a long period of time then you may find that it becomes fatal. There is little chance that SARS will ever turn into another global pandemic. It is still important to monitor people for symptoms of SARS because there is always a possibility that the illness will resurface once again.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 24th August 2009