Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Papers

Graphic Outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: case report

BMJ 2003; 326 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.326.7394.850 (Published 19 April 2003) Cite this as: BMJ 2003;326:850

Rapid Response:

SARS transmission to health care workers

Data on the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) are
very important, especially when rapid spread and high morbidity indicates
high virulence of the agent involved. Unfortunately, data on health care
workers do not specify their duties at the hospital. The question arises
whether infection has also been transmitted to, e.g., laboratory personnel
which only is handling contaminated body fluids or excretions without
direct contact to affected patients.

Dietmar Fuchs

Institute of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry,
University of Innsbruck

Competing interests:  
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

23 April 2003
Dietmar Fuchs
University of Innsbruck
A-6020 innsbruck