On 17 March 2003 a 64-year-old man was admitted to hospital in Greater Manchester with a diagnosis of probable SARS. The Greater Manchester Health Protection Unit coordinated the public health response. Issues that needed to be addressed included: clarifying the diagnosis, management of contacts, infection control procedures, laboratory services, ongoing surveillance and managing the media response. The principles used for the management of this incident are applicable to many other communicable disease and infection control situations.
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