SARS and Flu Season

Like many other things about SARS, the link between SARS and the flu season is still a mystery. There is a chance that SARS is a seasonal disease and will recur this winter, according to World Health Organization officials, however, this cannot be said with certainty.

Scientists have discovered that SARS is a coronavirus, a member of a family of viruses that cause other common respiratory diseases. Based on this knowledge, scientists speculate that SARS may be seasonal like other coronaviruses, and recur in the next flu season this winter.

For the time being, we seem to have put SARS behind us. However, the virus may still be circulating in animals. If the SARS virus behaves like other respiratory disease viruses, it may be dormant when the weather is hot and humid, but will return when the season is cooler. When the seasonal conditions are right, the virus may cross over into humans again.

When SARS first appeared in southern China, it was during the flu season in November. Due to the similarity of its symptoms with flu, SARS went unrecognized for a long time.

Hopefully, this November, a SARS diagnostic test will be available to distinguish between SARS patients and those suffering from other respiratory illnesses. Otherwise, hospitals would be forced to isolate all people with respiratory diseases similar to SARS.

Resources:

Review a past Sound Medicine show, in which we interviewed a specialist from a pharmaceutical company developing a SARS diagnostic test.

Additional information about why SARS may cause more deaths during flu season.

August 16, 2003