Pathogen

WHO infectious disease specialist Dr. Carlo Urbani identified the outbreak of SARS and treated the earliest cases in Hanoi, Vietnem. He died from the disease in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 29, 2003. The initial outbreak of SARS began on November 16, 2002, in Guangdong Province, China. As outbreaks occurred in Hong Kong, Viet Nam, and Singapore, the SARS-CoV swept around the globe via routes of international air travel. The principle modes of transmission are thought to be due to exposure to infected respiratory droplets during close person-to-person contact and infected fomites. SARS-CoV is shed not only in respiratory secretions, but in feces and other bodily fluids as well.

The negative stain electron micrograph (left) of coronavirus isolated from a SARS patient was obtained from virus isolated, purified, and concentrated in cell culture. Characteristic petal-shaped projections are not present all particles, which can make identification difficult. The bar represents 100 nm.