What can be done to prevent Sars?

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"Common sense precautions should do the trick," says Gerberding. The CDC suggests the following:

• Good hand hygiene and covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze, should go a long way to preventing the spread of this disease.
• Frequent hand washing with soap and water, or with an alcohol-based hand rub is essential, especially after going to the toilet, being on the street, after blowing your nose, or touching surfaces like lift buttons or escalator railings.
• Sharing eating or other household utensils is unwise.
• People who have frequent contact with Sars patients, for whatever reason, should wear surgical masks – and so should the patient.
• Don't use other people's towels or bedding.
• Soiled surfaces (tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, TV remote controls) in homes and offices should be washed regularly with a household disinfectant.
• Avoid visiting crowded places with poor ventilation.
• Avoid visiting areas where the disease is prevalent, if at all possible.
• Eat a balanced diet and up your vitamin intake, thereby increasing your body's immunity.
• If you have any type of cold or flu, do not dispose of your used tissues in an open bin – find one that has a cover.
• Those with Sars symptoms should wear surgical masks to reduce the chances of transmission.
• Avoid close contact (closer than one metre) with someone who is infected.

Precautions for those nursing Sars patients at home

• Make sure the patient has seen a doctor.
• Make sure that everyone in the household frequently washes their hands.
• Wear disposable gloves if you have any contact with the patient's bodily fluids, such as sweat, saliva, urine or vomit.
• Do not use household items that have been touched by the patient, until after they have been washed with soap and hot water.
• Wear a surgical mask and get the patient to do the same, if possible.
• Continue doing these things until ten days after the last symptoms have disappeared.

How is Sars spread?
"The virus appears to spread through droplet transmission", says Julie Gerberding, director of the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in the US.Droplet transmission refers to the spread of viruses contained in relatively large respiratory droplets that people project when they cough or sneeze. Because of their large size, droplets travel only a short distance (usually 3 feet or less) before they settle.

Droplet transmission can occur either directly when droplets are inhaled by another person, or indirectly when droplets land on an object or surface (such as a doorknob or telephone) that are then touched by another individual. Common-cold viruses (like rhinovirus) are typically spread by droplets, according to the CDC.

Who is most at risk?
Those most at risk include those who have had direct contact with infected persons, such as family members sharing a household with an infected person, health care workers who dealt with Sars patients before infection control procedures were put in place, and any other people who have had close contact with a Sars victim.

Travellers who have recently visited Hong Kong, Hanoi, Singapore and Mainland China are also at high risk.

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