“Epidemics on the other side of the world are a threat to us all. No epidemic is juts local”
Given its prominence as a global pandemic, it is widely believed that an extreme form of coronavirus emerged in 2019 for the first time. However, the major outbreakof the virus has already occurred before in 2003 in the form of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).Symptoms are influenza-like and include fever, malaise, myalgia, headache, diarrhea, and shivering while Cough (initially dry), shortness of breath, and diarrhea are present in the first and/or second week of illness, drawing a strong resemblance to COVID-19.The virus was recognized as a global threat in March 2003 after it first appeared in China in November 2002. Since then, a small number of cases have occurred as a result of laboratory accidents or, possibly, through animal-to-human transmission.
Currently, no areas of the world are reporting transmission of SARS. Since the end of the global epidemic in July 2003, SARS has reappeared four times – three times from laboratory accidents (Singapore and Chinese Taipei), and once in southern China where the source of infection remains undetermined although there is circumstantial evidence of animal-to-human transmission. Sixteen years later, the same virus has shaken the order of the world in the form of Covid-19.