a 55-year - old man traveled to mainland china from march 5 to march 15 . by march 18
the patient was given a course of antimicrobial drugs , and the fever resolved . by march 23 ,
at this point , sars was suspected , and the patient was moved into isolation in an intensive care unit the same day and had to be intubated for 5 days .
results from the polymerase chain reaction ( pcr ) test indicated the presence of the sars - associated coronavirus .
the patient had no previous history of serious respiratory illness or any other serious coexisting conditions , and the source of the exposure could not be determined .
the 50-year - old wife of patient 1 was exposed to sars upon her husband 's return on march 15 . on march 23 , a cough developed , and she had shortness of breath and chills .
because sars was suspected , the patient was placed on antiviral treatment , and sars was confirmed by pcr testing .
patient 2 was placed in isolation on a medical ward on march 25 and remained there until april 11 .
the 15-year - old daughter of patients 1 and 2 also became exposed to sars when her father returned on march 15 .
, she complained of stomach pain and , upon examination , had a temperature of 37.7c .
the 23-year - old daughter of patients 1 and 2 , who lived away the family home , became exposed to sars through contact with both patients 1 and 2 upon a brief visit ( lasting < 1 hour ) on march 19 . by march 27
a pcr test was not completed because her fever resolved , and no other symptoms developed .
a 55-year - old man traveled to mainland china from march 5 to march 15 . by march 18
the patient was given a course of antimicrobial drugs , and the fever resolved . by march 23 ,
at this point , sars was suspected , and the patient was moved into isolation in an intensive care unit the same day and had to be intubated for 5 days .
results from the polymerase chain reaction ( pcr ) test indicated the presence of the sars - associated coronavirus .
the patient had no previous history of serious respiratory illness or any other serious coexisting conditions , and the source of the exposure could not be determined .
the 50-year - old wife of patient 1 was exposed to sars upon her husband 's return on march 15 . on march 23 , a cough developed , and she had shortness of breath and chills .
because sars was suspected , the patient was placed on antiviral treatment , and sars was confirmed by pcr testing .
patient 2 was placed in isolation on a medical ward on march 25 and remained there until april 11 .
the 15-year - old daughter of patients 1 and 2 also became exposed to sars when her father returned on march 15 .
, she complained of stomach pain and , upon examination , had a temperature of 37.7c .
the 23-year - old daughter of patients 1 and 2 , who lived away the family home , became exposed to sars through contact with both patients 1 and 2 upon a brief visit ( lasting < 1 hour ) on march 19 . by march 27
a pcr test was not completed because her fever resolved , and no other symptoms developed .
 with cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome ( sars ) occurring across geographic regions , data collection on the effectiveness of intervention strategies should be standardized to facilitate analysis . 
 we propose a minimum dataset to capture data needed to examine the basic reproduction rate , case status and criteria , symptoms , and outcomes of sars . 
Appendix
Example Data (entries in 
Hypothetical Patient 1
Hypothetical Patient 2
Hypothetical Patient 3
Hypothetical Patient 4
Supplementary Material