How SARS Spreads

Probable cases of SARS linked through chains of transmission

—This chart shows how a person who stayed in Hotel M in Hong Kong infected
a large number of people in Singapore. Each circle is an infected person. For more details
visit the CDC article Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome—Singapore, 2003.

From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publication 
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 9 May 2003.

Diagram of the spread of SARS
from the Hotel Metropole in Hong Kong

—This diagram shows how one “super spreader” (a person who is associated with spreading SARS to many people) infected hundreds of people in a hotel in Hong Kong. This is an example of how the disease can be spread to many people from one source.

Individual patients are named with capital letters. HCW means health care worker. Diagram is a slide by CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding from a presentation she gave in Berkeley, Calif. Image courtesy Ted Kaehler.