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. 2004 Dec;5(4):262-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.prrv.2004.07.009.

The chronology of the 2002-2003 SARS mini pandemic

James D Cherry  1
Affiliations

The chronology of the 2002-2003 SARS mini pandemic

James D Cherry. Paediatr Respir Rev. 2004 Dec.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was a new human disease in the autumn of 2002. It first occurred in Southern China in November 2002 and was transported to Hong Kong on February 21, 2003 by an infected and ill patient. Ten secondary cases spread the infection to two hospitals in Hong Kong and to Singapore, Toronto and Hanoi. In March 2003 a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was found to be the causative agent. Within 11 weeks from the first SARS case in Hong Kong it had spread to an additional 27 countries or special administrative regions. The mini pandemic peaked during the last week of May 2003 and the last new probable case was on July 13, 2003. There were a total of 8096 probable cases and 774 deaths. Sixty-six per cent of the cases occurred in China, 22% in Hong Kong, 4% in Taiwan and 3% in both Singapore and Canada. Twenty-one per cent of all cases occurred in healthcare workers.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chain of transmission among guests at Hotel M – Hong Kong, 2003. (From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Update: Outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome – Worldwide, 2003. MMWR 2003; 52:241–248.).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cumulative number of reported suspect or probable SARS cases and countries or administrative regions in the world from March 17, 2003 to July 31, 2003. The number of countries decreased from 33 to 29 when cases in some countries were found not to be SARS. Similarly the final count of cases also decreased with the elimination of cases which were later found not to be SARS. The March 17 and 24, 2003 dates include the initial 305 cases from Southern China which were not included in the WHO reports.
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