Diagnostic Criteria during SARS Outbreak in Hong Kong   [open pdf - 38KB]

This document details the diagnostic criteria during the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong. The accuracy of diagnostic criteria in the outbreak and the importance of epidemiologic criteria are discussed. The document concludes that further studies are needed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of these criteria in a nonoutbreak situation when the case prevalence is low. A novel coronavirus caused more than 8,000 probable cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) worldwide during the 2003 outbreak. Before the etiologic agent was identified, the diagnosis of SARS was made according to a set of clinical-epidemiologic criteria as suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).