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Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory illness caused by SARS coronavirus (SARSCoV). The first cases were reported in the Southern China Province of Guangdong. The 2003 epidemic was driven by international travel and lack of knowledge of its etiological agent. The World Health Organization reported 8,422 cases with 916 deaths as of August of 2003. Containment of the SARS epidemic was possible by rapid diagnosis and effective isolation of infectious cases.
SARS symptoms include high fever, headaches, body aches, mild respiratory symptoms at the outset, diarrhea, and usually a development of a dry cough within seven days of infection. Most SARS patients develop pneumonia. SARS is transmitted by close person-to-person contact.

Background on SARS

• Viral respiratory illness caused by SARS coronavirus
• 15% death induced mortality
• Average latent period of 6.4 days
• With no treatment: Average infectious period 35.9 days
• With treatment: Average infectious period is 23.5 days

Vaccine Research

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

• Testing on mice –found that mice developed antibodies after first exposure to SARS
• Testing on monkeys:
  • Modified existing vaccine for similar virus HPIV3Vaccinated monkeys did not shed the virus
  • Would be only effective in infants and children

Sinovac Biotech (Chinese Company)

• Conducting experiments on humans
• “Vaccine” made of dead samples of SARS coronavirus

We assess pre-outbreak and during-outbreak vaccination as control strategies for SARS epidemics. Our model includes susceptible, latent (traced and untraced), infectious, quarantined/isolated and recovered classes. We take parameter estimates from published literature. We explored different scenarios for control including the effects of levels of pre-outbreak successfully vaccinated individuals as the number of secondary cases by a primary infectious case (R₀) and the final epidemic size.