IntroductionIn March 2003, an influenza-like epidemic broke out in Asia, called severe respiratory syndrome (SARS). As a result, the WHO issued a global alert informing nations of this infection. This virus has appeared in more than 15 countries. It has been found to belong to the coronovirus family (Smeltzer, Bare, Hinkle & Cheever, 2007). This article will describe in detail the SARS epidemic and epidemiological indicators with SARS data. It will analyze the transmission route and also provide a graphical representation with substantial details of the international movement pattern of the epidemic. This article will also show how the outbreak could affect a community and the protocol for reporting this outbreak. It will show how to modify patient care to address the increased risk from poor air quality. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a type of acute pneumonia. It is caused by a viral outbreak that occurred in 2003. The infection that causes severe respiratory distress and sometimes death is believed to be a member of the coronovirus family of viruses, like the one that causes the common cold (Smeltzer, Bare, Hinkle & Cheever, 2007 ). This virus can spread when a person with this respiratory distress sneezes or coughs without closing their mouth, and infected droplets spread through the air and someone else breathes it in or touches the surface with the droplet , then there is the possibility that this individual is infected. When a person with SARS coughs or sneezes, infected droplets are released into the air. If someone inhales or touches the surface with the droplet, then there is a risk of infection. This virus can stay for up to 6 hours in these droplets...... middle of paper ...... how the outbreak could affect a community and the protocol for reporting this outbreak. It also showed how to modify patient care to address increased risk from poor air quality. References Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/sars/about/index.html Corda SARS Global Map. Retrieved from http://www.corda.com/examples/go/map/sars. Hung, S. L. (2003). The SARS outbreak in Hong Kong: lessons we have learned, Journal of Royal Society of Medicine 96 (8) Smeltzer, SC, Bare., BG, Hinkle,. J.L. and Cheever, K.H. (2007). Severe acute respiratory syndrome: Textbook of medical-surgical nursing, (11th ED) (pp. 2510). Lippincott Williams and WilkinsWorld Health Organization (2003) Epidemiological data from SARS. Retrieved from www.who.int/csr/sars/epi2003_04_11/en/