Severe acute respiratory syndrome diagnostic criteria

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Diagnostic Criteria

SARS may be suspected in a patient who has:

• Any of the symptoms including a fever of 38 °C (100.4 °F) or more AND
• Either a history of:
  • Contact (sexual or casual) with someone with a diagnosis of SARS within the last 10 days OR
  • Travel to any of the regions identified by the WHO as areas with recent local transmission of SARS (affected regions as of 10 May 2003 were parts of China, Hong Kong, Singapore and the province of Ontario, Canada).

A probable case of SARS has the above findings plus positive chest x-ray findings of atypical pneumonia or adult respiratory distress syndrome.

With the advent of diagnostic tests for the coronavirus probably responsible for SARS, the WHO has added the category of "laboratory confirmed SARS" for patients who would otherwise fit the above "probable" category who do not (yet) have the chest x-ray changes but do have positive laboratory diagnosis of SARS based on one of the approved tests (ELISA, immunofluorescence or PCR).