Table 2.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Case Definition of SARS10

Clinical Criteria

•Asymptomatic or mild respiratory illness • Moderate respiratory illness ○ Temperature of >100.4° F(>38° C)∗, and ○ One or more clinical findings of respiratory illness (eg, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, or hypoxia). • Severe respiratory illness ○ Temperature of >100.4° F(>38° C)∗, and ○ One or more clinical findings of respiratory illness (eg, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, or hypoxia), and ○ radiographic evidence of pneumonia, or ○ respiratory distress syndrome, or ○ autopsy findings consistent with pneumonia or respiratory distress syndrome without an identifiable cause.

Epidemiologic Criteria

•Travel (including transit in an airport) within 10 days of onset of symptoms to an area with current or previously documented or suspected community transmission of SARS (see Table), or •Close contact within 10 days of onset of symptoms with a person known or suspected to have SARS

Laboratory Criteria

• Confirmed ○ Detection of antibody to SARS-CoV in specimens obtained during acute illness or >21 days after illness onset, or ○ Detection of SARS-CoV RNA by RT-PCR confirmed by a second PCR assay, by using a second aliquot of the specimen and a different set of PCR primers, or ○ Isolation of SARS-CoV. • Negative ○ Absence of antibody to SARS-CoV in convalescent serum obtained >21 days after symptom onset. • Undetermined ○ Laboratory testing either not performed or incomplete.