Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome This highly infectious disease was brought into Singapore in March 2003 by three Singaporeans who had contracted it in Hong Kong. One of them was later identified as the ‘index case’, as others, including relatives and the healthcare workers who attended to her, soon caught the virus as well. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) soon became a national emergency as more cases were detected in the country.

SARS was identified as a new type of atypical pneumonia that infects the lungs, and that spreads through droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Most cases of SARS were acquired through close, person- to- person contact. Those who cared for, lived with, or had had direct contact with SARS patients were most at risk.

Tan Tock Seng Hospital was designated as the institution for the treatment of SARS cases. Doctors and nurses were often torn between the call of duty and the fear of catching SARS or of infecting members of their own families. Healthcare workers, including even administrative staff working in other hospitals and clinics, also found themselves shunned by people who feared catching the virus.

To control the spread of SARS and facilitate the monitoring of people who had been in contact with SARS patients, the Ministry of Health invoked the Infectious Diseases Act to impose home quarantine orders. People placed under home quarantine (who did not necessarily have SARS but who had been in touch with SARS patients) were confined to their homes as a precaution. To prevent new SARS cases from entering Singapore, all visitors were required to undergo temperature screening at border checkpoints.

By the time Singapore was declared free of SARS by the World Health Organization on 31 May 2003, 33 people had died from the disease locally. In total, there were 239 reported cases of SARS in Singapore, with 97 of these being health care workers. Globally, SARS infected more than 8,000 people, the majority of cases being in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

Singapore has developed a number of strategies that can be employed should SARS recur. Researchers at Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory have worked with Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore General Hospital and the National Environment Agency to develop an accurate series of diagnostic tests for the disease.

Photo credit: Singapore Press Holdings/ The Straits Times