SARS Pandemic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

SARS Pandemic - Essay Example Vaccine is in the preparatory phase. Once vaccine has been finally prepared would it possible to meet the demand of the world to prevent an event of pandemic through herd immunity. This is big question that is not an easy task to answer. Apart from availability, the cost of the vaccine would be an important factor. Developing countries would be at the worst hit because of affordability issues related to the cost of the vaccine. But pandemic will not be prevented if only the developed is vaccinated. It would have been possible to control the syndrome through directly observed treatment strategy (DOTS) if a drug of choice was available. Since no drug of choice is available and the vaccine does not seem to be of any substantial benefit so the only option left is the prevention. Prevention can be achieved through personal hygiene, sanitation of the environment especially with overcrowding like schools, aircrafts, etc. After a diagnosed case, the strategy used by the Canadian health authorities during 2003 outbreak seems an excellent guideline to follow when required. Coronaviruses are the causative agent for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). These are positive strand RNA viruses of about 100nm and contain the largest genome among the RNA viruses. These viruses belong to the group of nidovirales, the other members of the group are: toroviruses and arteriviruses. Coronaviruses have helical nucleocapsides and envelops which are derived from intracellular membranes (Hunt 2005, Lwinson 2004). The coronaviruses discovered in the fourth decade of the last century but received attention in early 2003 when it was found that a new disease, SARS, which was started in the late 2002, was caused by these viruses (Hunt 2005, Lwinson 2004). SARS was responsible for the sickness of more than 8000 people while more than 700 people died of this syndrome around the world (SARS 2006). The habitat is animal body but the disease is spread when the animal-human barrier is crossed due to any factor (Peiris 2003). The virus is transmitted through droplet and contact (Hunt 2005, Lwinson 2004, Poutanen 2003, Yu 2004). Airborne mode of transmission is still not confirmed. There are some supporting data available but more information is needed to declare it as a mode of transmission. The contact of mucous membranes, of a potential candidate for SARS, with infected material seems important for the spread of the disease (Peiris 2003). The viruses are in different secretions of the body, like urine and faeces but the evidence for feco-oral route is missing (Olsen 2003). The SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is actually less transmissible as, the ratio of one primary case to its secondary cases is only two to four but once it starts spreading and measures are not taken to control then the toll is very high (Olsen 2003). The incubation period estimated by various research teams have been in the range of two to ten days with mean duration of six days (Olsen 2003,Donnelly 2003). It has also been observed that it is very unlikely for the transmission to occur before the start of the symptoms and after 10 days of the resolution of fever (Olsen 2003). Based on the incubation period, the period of infectivity and the mode of transmission the viruses have infected humans in a variety of environments, like: workplaces of health care providers, lab