SARS Prognosis: An Overview
Once a person has become infected with
SARS, there is only one cure -- time. Therefore, treatment is focused on providing relief of symptoms and complications as the body fights the SARS virus.
SARS is a potentially life-threatening infection, with an average death rate of 11 percent for the most severely affected populations. SARS is also associated with a number of serious complications, such as pneumonia. Even so, one third of people infected with the SARS virus have only mild SARS symptoms.
What Is a SARS Prognosis?
A prognosis gives an idea of the likely course and outcome of a disease -- that is, the chance that a patient will recover or continue to get worse. Many factors can affect a person's SARS prognosis.
When doctors discuss a person's prognosis, they carefully consider all factors that could affect that person's disease and treatment, and then try to predict what might happen. The doctor bases the SARS prognosis on information researchers have collected from other people who have had SARS. When possible, the doctor uses statistics based on groups of people whose situations are most similar to that of an individual patient.
Since there is currently no cure for this condition, it can be difficult to make an accurate SARS prognosis.
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