SARS
SARS is an abbreviation for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a respiratory illness recently reported in Asia, North America and Europe.
It causes cough, fever, and trouble breathing. It also causes symptoms associated with many viral infections, such as aches all over the body, headache, and a general feeling of tiredness.
Some people with the infection have mild symptoms. Others are so sick they must be hospitalized. When their lung problems get worse, they require assistance with breathing (a ventilator).
You can learn all the basic facts about SARS by reading the information from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), by going to www.cdc.gov, look under ‘Spotlights’ and click on SARS.
FAQ's
How is Hiram College using this information?
Respiratory illness is common. Lots of people have fever and coughs. How can we tell who should we check for SARS? One way is to maintain constant
communication with the Center for International Students to see where students
and their families are going or coming from.
Another way is to question people carefully about their recent
travel. If they have recently traveled
to SARS affected areas of the world, this increases the chances that their
illness may be SARS. If they have not
traveled to these areas and have had no contact with SARS patients, we evaluate
them just as we would have before the SARS outbreak.
When faculty, staff or students ask the Health Center if
it is safe to travel or to go abroad, how do we answer the question?
The CDC makes available up-to-the-minute Travel Alerts and
Travel Advisories. They use the term
‘Travel Alert’ when they wish to notify travelers of an outbreak of a disease
in a certain geographic area, so that the traveler can reduce their risk for
infection. A Travel Alert is just an
FYI as to what you can do to reduce your risks, etc.
The CDC issues a ‘Travel Advisory’ as a more severe warning. They use this to communicate to US citizens that they recommend against nonessential travel to a specific area.
What procedure does the Hiram College Health Center staff
follow when evaluating individuals who might be at risk of SARS?
The Health Center staff follows daily advice from the CDC
in evaluating such patients, in order to abide by public health laws in the
United States. We also operate in close
association with our internet travel service information system, area hospitals
and the county health department.
Interim guidelines from the CDC on evaluating our students
exposed to SARS suggest separating out students into 3 distinct groups, if they
have been exposed to SARS. Students
with no fever and no respiratory symptoms need no particular management. If students have respiratory symptoms but no
fever, need to be isolated for 72 hours (and may not go to classes). If these students do not develop fever, (and
do not go on to meet the case definition for SARS), they can discontinue their
isolation precautions after 72 hours.
For students with fever and respiratory symptoms, they are sent to St.
Vincent Charity in Cleveland or the hospital of their choice.
Sars
Screening Form
What is the meaning of quarantine? How is it being used?
Quarantine means ‘restriction of freedom of movement of
apparently well individuals who have been exposed to infectious.’
Although President Bush has given the CDC power to
quarantine people exposed to SARS, CDC has not yet used this power in a formal
way. In certain instances, people arriving in the US from countries with lots
of SARS cases and ongoing local transmission might be asked to quarantine
themselves voluntarily by staying home for a period of 10 days.
What does the term ‘isolation’ mean?
Isolation is ‘separation of infected individuals (those
who are sick) from those uninfected for the period of communicability of a
particular disease.’
When patients have SARS, the isolation is more strict and very important, to keep the illness from spreading to others. The CDC has clear information about how isolation should proceed and how others in the household can protect themselves from SARS.
For students with questions about their personal health, they may contact the Health Center at x5418.