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Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) |
To contain the spread of a contagious illness, public health authorities
rely on many strategies. Two of these strategies are isolation and quarantine.
Both are common practices in public health, and both aim to control exposure
to infected or potentially infected persons. Both may be undertaken voluntarily
or compelled by public health authorities. The two strategies differ
in that isolation applies to persons who are known to have an illness,
and quarantine applies to those who have been exposed to an illness but
who may or may not become ill.
ISOLATION:
FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE ILL
Isolation refers to the separation of persons who have a specific
infectious illness from those who are healthy and the restriction of
their movement to stop the spread of that illness. Isolation allows for
the focused delivery of specialized health care to people who are ill,
and it protects healthy people from getting sick. People in isolation
may be cared for in their homes, in hospitals, or in designated healthcare
facilities. Isolation is a standard procedure used in hospitals today
for patients with tuberculosis (TB) and certain other infectious diseases.
In most cases, isolation is voluntary; however, many levels of government
(federal, state, and local) have basic authority to compel isolation
of sick people to protect the public.
QUARANTINE:
FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN EXPOSED BUT ARE NOT ILL
Quarantine refers to the separation and restriction of movement of persons
who, while not yet ill, have been exposed to an infectious agent and therefore
may become infectious. Quarantine of exposed persons is a public health strategy,
like isolation, that is intended to stop the spread of infectious disease.
Quarantine is medically very effective in protecting the public from disease.
States generally have authority to declare and enforce quarantine within
their borders. This authority varies widely from state to state, depending
on state laws. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
through its Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, also is empowered
to detain, medically examine, or conditionally release persons suspected
of carrying certain communicable diseases. This authority derives from
section 361 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264), as amended.
SARS
and Isolation
During
the 2003 global SARS outbreak, patients in the United States were isolated
until they were no longer infectious. This practice allowed patients
to receive appropriate care, and it helped contain the spread of the
illness. Seriously ill patients were cared for in hospitals. Persons
with mild illness were cared for at home. Persons being cared for at
home were asked to avoid contact with other people and to remain at home
until 10 days after the resolution of fever, provided respiratory symptoms
were absent or improving. (For more information on SARS infection control
precautions, see Supplement I in Public Health Guidance for Community-Level
Preparedness and Response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome [SARS]
at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/guidance/).
SARS
and Quarantine
In the United States , where there was limited transmission of
SARS-CoV during the 2003 SARS outbreak, neither individual nor population-based
quarantine of contacts was recommended. CDC advised persons who were
exposed but not symptomatic to monitor themselves for symptoms and advised
home isolation and medical evaluation if symptoms appeared. Individual
quarantine was an integral part of the control measures used in countries
more severely affected by the 2003 SARS outbreak. Quarantine of large
groups was used only in selected settings where extensive transmission
was occurring.
For
more information, see Questions and Answers
on Legal Authorities for Isolation and Quarantine.
For
more information, visit CDC's
SARS Web site, or call the CDC public response hotline at (800) CDC-INFO
(English), (888) 246-2857 (EspaƱol), or (888) 232-6348(TTY)
Related
Links:
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