Although no cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have been reported on campus, University Health Services (UHS) is screening patients with respiratory illness as a safeguard in accordance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Ohio Department of Health.

UHS recommends that all faculty, staff or students with onset of respiratory sickness-including a fever greater than 100.5 degrees-after February 1 who have a history of travel or exposure to someone who has recently traveled, see a medical professional as a precaution.

The cause of SARS, an atypical pneumonia, has been isolated as a coronavirus known to cause about 30 percent of common colds.

"We have had no reported cases of SARS on campus," said Eleanor Davidson, M.D., UHS director. "But because of the large number of CWRU students, faculty and staff who travel overseas and because some may have come to campus recently from mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam, we want to be alert to the possibility of encountering this infection."

There have been around 3,000 cases of probable SARS reported world wide, including about 190 cases in the United States, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Cases in the United States have not been as severe—no deaths have occurred—as in some other countries.

SARS is spread principally through droplet transmission: when someone sick with the illness coughs or sneezes droplets into the air and someone else breathes them in. The CDC said it also is possible SARS could be transmitted more broadly through the air or from objects that have been contaminated.

Currently, there are no travel restrictions in place that are directly related to SARS, according to the CDC. A travel advisory issued by the CDC, however, recommends that individuals who are planning nonessential or elective travel to mainland China; Hong Kong; Hanoi, Vietnam; or Singapore may wish to postpone their trip until further notice. Traveler's advisories are available on the CDC's traveler's health Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/travel.

Additional information also is available on the WHO SARS Web page at http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en. A fact sheet from the CWRU School of Medicine also is available in PDF form here: sarsfactsheet.pdf

Students can be seen at UHS by calling 216-368-4539 for an appointment.

CWRU students who are registered for one or more credit hours are eligible to make use of UHS services. Full-time students who attend the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Cleveland Institute of Music or the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine also are eligible for UHS services if they have paid the appropriate fee to their school.