In 2003, an outbreak occurred of a previously unrecognised illness – termed severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). It was caused by infection with a newly identified coronavirus, SARS-CoV. Infection produced an illness with PNEUMONIA as a prominent feature, but some patients developed other events such as loss of appetite, diarrhoea and bleeding from the stomach. Many of those who developed the disease were health-care workers; the contagion rate was very high and fatalities occurred.

Exceptional isolation procedures became necessary as the EPIDEMIC threatened to spread worldwide from its origin in Hong Kong. For example, patients were concentrated in individual hospitals which were turned into isolation units with a ‘no visiting’ policy. Staff and other patients exposed to those with the disease were quarantined (see QUARANTINE) in the special units. All non-urgent hospital inpatient care was cancelled, and potential contacts were closely screened. Travel restrictions were put in place. These measures, coordinated by the World Health Organisation, brought the epidemic under control.