May 2003

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Unmasking the spread of SARS

By Anissa Anderson Orr

Forget Prada purses and Jimmy Choo shoes. The accessory du jour for hip urbanites in Hong Kong and Toronto is more common in a hospital than a haberdashery.

The stylish and not-so stylish citizens of Asian and Canadian cities are donning surgical masks to protect themselves from catching Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS, a new and sometimes fatal infectious disease that continues to spread globally.

But while masks provide peace of mind and some protection against catching respiratory illnesses, the only surefire way to avoid catching them is to avoid contact with people who are infected.

“The culprit is often poor air circulation,” said Daniel Musher, MD, an infectious disease researcher at the Houston VA Medical Center and a professor of medicine and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine.

General Germs

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Respiratory tract infections spread most easily in places that attract many people and have poor ventilation, such as some theaters and airplanes. “The best-described outbreak of influenza is in an airplane with the air conditioning turned off. The plane was grounded for four hours and 75 percent of the people on the airplane caught it from the one person who had it.”

Since SARS is so new, doctors are not sure how it is spread, but suspect that it is transmitted through the air and through close person-to-person contact. SARS is thought to be a form of the coronavirus, a common cause of mild to moderate upper-respiratory illness in humans.

Masks are most useful in situations in which a patient is suspected to have SARS. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention suggests that a person recovering from SARS should wear a surgical mask during close contact with uninfected persons. If the patient is unable to wear a surgical mask, other people in the home should wear one when in close contact with the patient.

“Some masks are better at protecting against the transmission of respiratory illnesses than others,” said Robert Couch, MD, professor and chairman of microbiology and director of the influenza research center at Baylor. “The best ones, used mostly in hospitals, fit snugly around the head and have a tight weave.”

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