When a man was admitted to a Hanoi hospital in February with a high fever, dry cough, muscle soreness and mild sore throat, no one could’ve expected that he would be the first in the rapid spread of a potentially deadly disease.

Since then, severe acute respiratory syndrome, a pneumonia-like respiratory infection, has cropped up with 456 new cases, including 17 deaths in 13 countries. The most affected areas are in Southeast Asia, including Guangdong province, China, Hanoi, Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong, but there have also been cases reported in Toronto and the United States. The World Health Organization reports 2,400 cases resulting in 89 deaths since November 2002.

It is unknown at this point what causes SARS, but the main symptoms are high fever, dry cough, shortness of breath or breathing difficulties, and it may also be associated with headache, muscular stiffness, loss of appetite, malaise, confusion, rash and diarrhea.

University of Wisconsin professor of pathobiological sciences Thomas Yuill said the first step in solving the SARS mystery would be to find out the disease’s source.

“It would really be helpful to know for certain what agent is causing SARS,” Yuill said. “So far, three different viruses have been detected in SARS patients, and two of these have been isolated simultaneously from some patients, raising the possibility that infection with two viruses causes the disease.”

In a time of heightened tension in the United States, many people have begun to fear the rapid spread of SARS throughout the country. The disease is not highly contagious after taking protective measures but has spread quickly in a short period of time, apparently through intimate contact or shared time with infected people in confined spaces such as the cabin of an airliner.

“The patterns of spread so far suggest patchy distribution, with foci of cases occurring in different places and not massive epidemic spread the way that influenza can occur,” Yuill said.

Jon Woods, an associate professor and vice chair for the department of medical microbiology & immunology at the UW Medical School and an expert in infectious diseases, agreed SARS would not go the way of past influenza epidemics.

“However, the outbreak has appeared to have been detected relatively early, and infectious-disease and public-health specialists jumped on it probably faster than has ever been done for such an outbreak,” Woods said. “There are no real indications for widespread global transmission. There is no current evidence for particular danger for the vast majority of people in Wisconsin, who have not traveled recently to Southeast Asia or come in direct contact with such travelers … Thus, it is not something to be ignored, but it is also not a reason for panic.”

President Bush added to the number of preventative measures the United States has taken against SARS by signing an executive order adding it to the list of diseases for which one can be quarantined. Citizens are discouraged from flying to Southeast Asia or any of the “hot-spot” areas, and many officials are required to refer any passengers who are symptomatic to health authorities for assessment and care.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that SARS patients in the United States are in isolation until they are no longer infectious, and others with exposure to the disease but who are not ill are quarantined until it is affirmed that they will not become sick.

At this time there is no known treatment or cure for SARS, but WHO has found that patients in Hanoi whose symptoms were adequately treated have improved over time enough to be transferred from critical case wards to regular wards, and there is currently an international multi-agency research project happening to identify the causative agent of SARS.

Eleven laboratories in 10 countries consult each other daily and are working together to find answers to cure SARS.