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Volume 10, Number 2—February 2004
THEME ISSUE
2004 SARS Edition
SARS Epidemiology

Multiple Contact Dates and SARS Incubation Periods

Martin I. Meltzer*Comments to Author 
Author affiliation: *Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Main Article

Table

Patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and possible incubation periods

Patient source and no.a Possible incubation period of SARS in days
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Canada 1
2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10
 11
 12
Canada 2
 1
 2
 3
 4
Canada 3
 1
4
Canada 4
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10
 11
Canada 5
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10
 11
 12
 13
 14
Canada 7
3
10
Canada 8b
3
Canada 10
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
Hong Kong 2
2
Hong Kong 3
2
Hong Kong 4
6
Hong Kong 5
2
Hong Kong 6
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
Hong Kong 7
5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10
 11
Hong Kong 8
5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10
 11
Hong Kong 9
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
Hong Kong 10
2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
USA 1
6
13
 14
 15
 16
 17
 18
USA 2 7 8 9 10 11 12

aPatient source: Canada refers to patients reported in reference 6, Hong Kong to patients reported in reference 7, and USA to patients whose incubation periods were extracted from an unpublished database held at CDC. I used the same patient numbers as used in the published reports.
bPatient 9 from the Canadian database (6) was excluded because the possible incubation period was reported as < 29 days. However, even with n = 20, adding patient Canada 9 would mean that possible incubation periods between 19 and 29 days would each have very low frequencies (i.e., <0.01).

Main Article

References
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  4. Chew P, Coughlin P, Chambers J. S&P correct: respiratory disease SARS chokes Asia-Pacific growth, but sovereign ratings are secure. [Accessed April 29, 2003] Available from: URL: http://www.standardandpoors.com
  5. Special report: the SARS epidemic. The Economist 2003, April 26;367:18–20.
  6. Poutanen  SM, Low  DE, Henry  B, Finkelstein  S, Rose  D, Green  K, Identification of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Canada. N Engl J Med. 2003;348:1995–2005. DOIPubMed
  7. Tsang  KW, Ho  PL, Ooi  GC, Yee  WK, Wang  T, Chan-Yeung  M, A cluster of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong. N Engl J Med. 2003;348:1977–85. DOIPubMed
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Page updated: May 14, 2012
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