What does the medical abbreviation SARS mean?

Answer 1

SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. It is a viral disease caused by the SARS Coronavirus. It's actually a very severe form of pneumonia.

Its symptoms resemble influenza, causing things like aches, fever, coughing, sore throat etc. However, it can also cause digestive issues such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Those symptoms really aren't detrimental, the reason SARS is so dangerous is that it can lead to things like Pulmonary Fibrosis, which is a big deal. SARS is a fairly rare illness, but in 2002 - 2003 there was an outbreak in China which reached nearly Epidemic status.

As I said though, SARS is very uncommon nowadays, so it's not a huge thing to worry about.