Vol. 9, Issue 5 (2020)

Author(s):
Abdul Mannan and Ayesha Nausheen

Abstract:
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a newly emerged infectious viral disease in the 21st century that has posed an enormous threat to international health. In February and March 2003 there were major outbreaks of SARS in Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Canada, and other countries. COVID-19 is not simialr to SARS as the virus that causes COVID-19 and the one that caused the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 are related to each other genetically, but the diseases they cause are quite different. SARS was more deadly but much less infectious than COVID-19. There have been no outbreaks of SARS anywhere in the world since 2003. A novel coronavirus has been identified as the pathogen responsible for SARS. Several laboratories have completed sequencing the genome of the coronavirus that has led to the global epidemic of SARS, and noted that the SARS coronavirus (SARS CoV) is not closely related to any of the previously characterized corona viruses. In this review article, we discuss the natural history, classification, evolution, transmission, diagnostics, epidemiological studies, clinical characterization and preventive measures of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome: Corona Virus.