Abstract: Altogether 61 patients with SARS were analyzed retrospectively.Of the 61 patients, 47(77.1%) were certainly exposed to SARS. Two weeks after falling ill was considered to be the most serious period of SARS. 54 patients (88.5%) were treated with ribavirin and 56(91.8%) with hylprednisone, although its use was associated with significant toxicity,including decrease in hemoglobin of 20 g/L(24/54,44.4%). Tachycardia (>100 beat/min) happened in 23/57(40.4%) cases. 6 patients died, in which 5 patients were aged and all of them were complicated with serious systemic diseases. The other one committed suicide in hospital. The first positive chest radiograph was diagnosed (8.6±5.9) d(1～24 d), just after the symptoms manifested. The abnormal chest radiograph recovered to normal in (17.1±6.2) d(5～35 d). The glucocorticoid is administered early is necessary for the SARS patients. The results show that more attention should be paid to the side effects resulted from excessive dosage of hormone and ribavirin.

Key words: severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS), treatment, hormone, ribavirin