Airborne Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus and Its Implications

respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (CoV) has been the favored explanation for its transmission on an aircraft [1] and appeared to explain a large community outbreak of SARS in the Amoy Gardens in Hong Kong [2]. The article by Booth et al. in this issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases [3] suggests that airborne dissemination of SARS-CoV may also occur in the health-care setting. A patient with SARS who was breathing quietly but coughing occasionally in a hospital room contaminated the surrounding air with SARS-CoV, as shown by experiments conducted during the SARS outbreak in Canada in early 2003. Several viruses and other pathogens, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, have been shown to be transmitted by airborne dissemination [4-8]. However, the possibility of airborne dissemination of SARSCoV has been controversial. The important work by Booth et al. has shown beyond doubt that SARS-CoV aerosol generation can occur from a patient with SARS. The study was well conceived and