SARS in Northern Vietnam

To the Editor: The outbreak of a new, potentially severe, infectious disease, without known cause or treatment, is a stressful challenge, both for patients and for physicians. Our only therapeutic weapons may be individual protection by means of masks, glasses, gloves, smocks, or even suits designed like those that protect against nuclear, biologic, and chemical agents. We would like to summarize our experience with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 39 patients in Vietnam. The incubation period appeared to be about four or five days, after direct contact with a sick patient. In our experience, there did not seem to . . .