What Parents Need to Know About SARS
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
from the Busy Parents Guide

Reading through the paper on May 13, 2003, I spied a small article pertaining to the release of a possible SARS patient from the city hospital near my home. It suddenly dawned on me the ramifications of this.

Coupled with the article in the same paper about the West Nile Virus and its impact last year, I realized we need a guide to information about these serious diseases.

I dug up a few things on SARS so that you won't have to:

How do I get it? What happens?
CDC (Center for Disease Control) Definition of SARS
SARS is spread like a cold through close contact. Colds are spread by airborne droplets and germ exchange from shaking hands and other contact. Asian fabrics should not cause SARS to spread.

With SARS, there are three levels of difficulties from the illness. The CDC reports you can have mild, moderate or severe. Mild carries no symptoms OR mild respiratory illness (such as a cold).

With moderate symptoms, you would most likely feel a general malaise, have a fever of more than 100.4°F that may be accompanied by chills, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. You may have a headache and body aches. A SARS infection might also give you muscular stiffness, loss of appetite, confusion, rash and diarrhea

Severe respiratory symptoms would be classified as the same above, but accelerated and often accompanied by respiratory distress and/or a confirmed pneumonia on x-ray.

SARS symptoms are also associated with colds, flu and pneumonia, so any illnesses of this kind are being treated as possible SARS -- especially if you've knowingly come in close contact with a traveler visiting the nations where it's most prevalant in, have been a traveller there yourself, are a healthcare worker, or a family member of an infected individual. Tests won't reveal whether it's a true SARS infection for approximately four weeks.

Initially, you may show respiratory symptoms, and in 3-7 days develop a dry, nonproductive cough that might progress to where insufficient oxygen is circulating the bloodstream and supplying your organs. ten to twenty percent of patients will require artificial ventilation in the hospital; three percent of reported cases resulted in death.

There is no known vaccine or cure for SARS, and treatment is just to keep the patient hydrated and stave off other infections. In my findings, there has been some inconsistency about whether patients are or are not treated with antibiotics and antivirals. A vaccination found in six months may be fruitless, as the virus will most likely have mutated by then. A possible example of the mutation is in a report I found in the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) from April 23, 2003.

"A number of deaths over the past week have occurred in younger, previously healthy people - one being a 34-year-old pregnant women. An increasing number of those infected with SARS are now suffering from diarrhoea. As many of two-thirds of the residents who contracted SARS in the outbreak at the Amoy Gardens high-rise had diarrhoea, according to health officials. "

"Initially patients were presenting with just respiratory failure," Dr Buckley said. "Now we're seeing renal failure and other organ failure."

If you think you have SARS, call your doctor

For more information, contact either your state or local health department or the CDC Emergency Operations Center at 770-488-7100.

What about my kids?
There are reports in hospitals and schools around the world of children with SARS.

Dr.Greene states, "The focus of much of the reporting thus far has been on adults, such as business travelers and healthcare workers. I would not be surprised, however, to see children turn out to be those at highest risk. Children are often especially vulnerable to pneumonias and flus – and respiratory infections can spread very quickly through communities of children. It is important to underscore that SARS may turn out to be nothing more than a nasty strain of flu; it might turn out, though, to be an important new illness."

This report from Straight Times seems to disagree, saying that kids may be less severely affected by SARS. As of May 1, 2003, there were no known SARS related deaths in children.

I think we all want to believe that as parents our children are strong enough. They may be more susceptible, but should withstand the disease. We still need to take every precaution to keep them protected. SARS is here, we can't ignore it. Keep the kids' hands washed, keep them close, and maybe cancel that trip to Singapore for Mariah Carey's concert, eh?

Special Report By
Gina Ritter

CDC: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) about SARS

Information and sources from:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/21/1050777212052.html
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/casedefinition.htm
http://www.pulsemed.org/sars.htm
http://www.drgreene.com/21_1442.html
http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/