Border Screening for SARS

摘要

With the rapid international spread of severe acute res-piratory syndrome (SARS) from March through May 2003,Canada introduced various measures to screen airplanepassengers at selected airports for symptoms and signs ofSARS. The World Health Organization requested that allaffected areas screen departing passengers for SARSsymptoms. In spite of intensive screening, no SARS caseswere detected. SARS has an extremely low prevalence,and the positive predictive value of screening is essentiallyzero. Canadian screening results raise questions about theeffectiveness of available screening measures for SARS atinternational borders