Border screening for SARS

• Published in: Emerging infectious diseases Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 6 - 10
• Main Authors: St John, Ronald K, King, Arlene, de Jong, Dick, Bodie-Collins, Margaret, Squires, Susan G, Tam, Theresa W S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases 01.01.2005; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Subjects: Adult; Airline passengers; airport screening; Canada; Child, Preschool; Development and progression; Diagnosis; Disease Outbreaks - prevention & control; Female; Health Alert Notices; Health aspects; Humans; Infant; Male; Mass Screening - methods; Middle Aged; Program Evaluation; quarantine; SARS; SARS coronavirus; SARS Virus; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - diagnosis; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - epidemiology; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - prevention & control; thermal scanners; Travel; travelers; Canada
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059
• DOI: 10.3201/eid1101.040835

With the rapid international spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) from March through May 2003, Canada introduced various measures to screen airplane passengers at selected airports for symptoms and signs of SARS. The World Health Organization requested that all affected areas screen departing passengers for SARS symptoms. In spite of intensive screening, no SARS cases were detected. SARS has an extremely low prevalence, and the positive predictive value of screening is essentially zero. Canadian screening results raise questions about the effectiveness of available screening measures for SARS at international borders.