The SARS 2003 outbreak ©  
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The information provided is "as is" and uncorrected. It was put on the World-Wide Web as the situation was understood at the time.

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  1. Strict personnel hygiene must be enforced: one should never see medical personnel in their work coats outside (in particular at cantines or such public places, as often unfortunately seen); spitting on the ground should be strictly forbidden; after visiting a patient one should wash one's hands carefully; as much as possible, direct contact with patients should be avoided (gloves can be used, and one should not forget, of course, to discard them properly immediately after use).
  2. Air conditioning should be monitored: temperature should not be kept too low (most microbes survive much longer at low temperatures), and ventilation should be efficient but indirect (remember that the nose and lungs act as air filters): filters should be cleaned up and as much as possible sterilized.
  3. Water quality should be controlled: filters should be cleaned up, and water circuits should be checked as much as possible.

At the present time several possible agents are considered (but none has been identified as a common cause): the influenza virus (which often causes pneumonia-like symptoms and is frequently letal); Legionella pneumophila (a very dangerous bacterium often transmitted trough infection by amoeba that thrive in water cooling systems or in the water circuit); Chlamydia pneumoniae (a very fragile bacterium, that may be dangerous in immunocompromized people); Rickettsia psittaci, the cause of psittacosis. Many other causes may exist among which viruses are usually the most difficult to identify readily unless well known previously. Sudden mutation of a rather innocuous virus such as syncytial respiratory virus may even be considered. The present observation that contagion seems highly confined to specific premises suggest either direct physical contact (this is the case with the Ebola virus) or some kind of transmission by water or air fluids.

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