Environmental transmission of SARS at Amoy Gardens.* Severe acute respiratory syndrome Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Definition Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is the first emergent and highly transmissible viral disease to appear during the twenty-first century. (SARS) is a highly contagious respiratory illness Noun 1. respiratory illness - a disease affecting the respiratory system respiratory disease, respiratory disorder adult respiratory distress syndrome, ARDS, wet lung, white lung - acute lung injury characterized by coughing and rales; inflammation of the . * Symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, dry cough dry cough n. A cough not accompanied by expectoration; a nonproductive cough. , and muscle aches. * Gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea and diarrhea, are also common. * Most SARS patients develop pneumonia. * Up to 20 percent of patients require mechanical ventilation mechanical ventilation n. A mode of assisted or controlled ventilation using mechanical devices that cycle automatically to generate airway pressure. . * SARS is caused by a coronavirus coronavirus /co·ro·na·vi·rus/ (ko-ro´nah-vi?rus) any virus belonging to the family Coronaviridae. Coronavirus /Co·ro·na·vi·rus/ (ko-ro´nah-vi?rus (CoV) similar to one of the coronaviruses that cause the common cold. * Between November 2002 and July 2003, a SARS epidemic caused 8,098 infections and 774 deaths worldwide. * Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. had 1,755 cases in a population of 6.7 million and a fatality rate fa·tal·i·ty rate n. See death rate. fatality rate see case fatality rate. of 17 percent (299 deaths). * The infection in Hong Kong was believed to be the source of the spread of the disease to many other countries * Environmental factors played an important role in the transmission of SARS during a March 2003 outbreak in Hong Kong. * Studies have focused on the rapid spread of SARS through Amoy Gardens Amoy Gardens (Chinese: 淘大花園; Jyutping: tou4 daai6 faa1 jyun4; Pinyin: táo dà huā yuán) is a high-density middle-class housing estate in Hong Kong completed from 1980 - 1987. , a large, private apartment complex. * The Amoy Gardens outbreak infected 321 people and caused 42 deaths. * The first, or index, case occurred in a 33-year-old man who lived in Shenzhen, China. * He was a frequent visitor to his brother's apartment at Amoy Gardens. * He developed SARS symptoms on March 14 and visited his brother's apartment on March 14 and 19. * On both occasions he had diarrhea and used the toilet. * Sanitary plumbing for the apartment towers consisted of vertical drainage pipes (called sanitary risers, or stacks). * The risers connected to toilets, sinks, bathtubs, and floor drains on each floor. * Each fixture was fitted with a U-shaped water trap. * U-traps are designed to prevent sewer gases, insects, and rodents from entering the living space. * They must be filled with water to function properly, however. * Many traps at Amoy Gardens were not sealed. * Health department officials quickly identified bathroom floor drains as the problem. * Because mop cleaning of floors does not generate water flow, bathroom floor drains were dry and unsealed. * Also, Amoy residents had installed high-powered window-mounted exhaust fans in most bathrooms. * The bathrooms were small (less than 50 square feet each). * A powerful fan installed in a small space creates significant negative pressure. * With doors and windows Doors and Windows is a multimedia disk by the Irish band The Cranberries. Track listing
* The source of make-up air in this case was the sanitary riser, by way of the unsealed floor drains. * Sewer gas and aerosolized Adj. 1. aerosolized - in the form of ultramicroscopic solid or liquid particles dispersed or suspended in air or gas aerosolised gaseous - existing as or having characteristics of a gas; "steam is water is the gaseous state" droplets were drawn into the bathrooms through the floor drains. * Virus-laden air was then transported by prevailing winds The prevailing winds are the trends in speed and direction of wind over a particular point on the earth's surface. A region's prevailing winds often show global patterns of movement in the earth's atmosphere. Prevailing winds are the causes of waves as they push the ocean. to adjacent buildings at Amoy Gardens. * Disease transmission during epidemics typically occurs across very short distances (i.e., 3 feet or less). * In the Amoy Gardens outbreak, virus-laden droplets seem to have traveled hundreds of feet through the air to cause human infection. * Recent studies suggest that other emerging infectious diseases, including H5N1 influenza, have the potential for environmental transmission. * These results have significant public health implications for control and prevention. This department, Practical Stuff! originated from you, our readers. Many of you have expressed to us that one of the main reasons you read the Journal of Environmental Health is to glean practical and useful information for your everyday work-related activities. In response to your feedback, we dedicate this section to you with salient points to remember about two to three articles in each issue. |
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