Sars is another name for severe acute respiratory syndrome which is a medical term for a respiratory disease found in humans. This condition is cause by a virus known as SARS coronavirus which infected the lungs of people and in 2002 had the world in panic as it spread through Asia killing many of the infected. The mortality rate for the condition of sars grow as the persons age increased reaching the highest for people aged 70 years and older. The original host of the sars virus belongs to an animal where the virus mutated and attached itself to humans. It is believed that the sars virus still exists in the animal population.

Fever, sore throat and dry coughs can be warning signs of the sars virus. Unfortunately these symptoms are also the warning signs for the common coughs and colds that frequent us each year. Because it is a respiratory disease sars is naturally known to cause breathing problems one settled into the host. The only common symptom to people suffering from the sars virus is a temperature of 38 degrees. Other than that sars would be a difficult virus to detect by yourself or even the doctors. This causes an even greater problem because sufferers should be isolated and undiagnosed sufferers will easily spread the virus.

Antipyretics are the only known antiviral medicine that has any effect on sars. Generic antibiotics have little effect if any. The spread of the virus is so easy that doctor and nurses are easily infected and are put at great risk. The only vaccine to have a good positive result was founded by the Chinese and provided antibodies for two thirds of the subjects who took the antivirus medicine. Sars vaccine medicine to cover an entire country would cost billions in research and development so is not generally feasible. Therefore for most of the world sars is left to be fought after the contraction of the virus.