[Severe acute respiratory syndrome and avian flu]

Severe acute respiratoru syndrome (SARS) is a new disease that caused large ourbreaks in several countries in the first half of 2003, resulting in infection in more than 8.000 people and more than 900 deaths. The disease originated in southern China and a novel coronavirus (SARS CoV) has been implicated as the causative organism. We present an overview of the etiology, clinical presentation and diagnosis, based on the current state of knowledge derived from published studies and our experience in the National Microbiology Centre. Influenza is a zoonosis. This appreciation of influenza ecologyfacilitated recognition of the H5N1 'bird flu' incident in Hong Kong in 1997 in what was considered to be an incipient pandemic situation, the chicken being the source of virus for humans and. The current outbreak of avian influenza in South East Asia has resulted in a small number of human deaths. These findings highlight the importance of systematic virus surveillance of domestic poultry in recognizing changes in virus occurrence, host range and pathogenicity as signals at the avian level that could presage a pandemic.