RESEARCH PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE Diagnosis or syndrome Possible SARS Respiratory Dermatologic Head-relatedb Gastrointestinal Genitourinary Other Unknown/missing Total aSARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome. bIncludes neurologic. Table 1. Diagnoses reported for callers by recorded body temperature, Taipei SARS fever hotline, June 1–10, 2003 (n = 1,966)a Body temperature Fever >38°C (%) No fever (%) Unknown/unrecorded 5 (1.3) 2 (0.3) 11 (1.2) 65 (17.2) 99 (15.6) 40 (4.2) 0 (0) 1 (0.2) 3 (0.3) 6 (1.6) 10 (1.6) 2 (0.2) 21 (5.6) 47 (7.4) 14 (1.5) 7 (1.9) 8 (1.3) 4 (0.4) 27 (7.1) 31 (4.9) 50 (5.2) 247 (65.3) 436 (68.8) 830 (87.0) 378 634 954 percent (n = 1,060) and 71% (n = 791) of respondents had heard about the body-temperature monitoring campaign and the fever hotline, respectively. The most common sources of information about the campaign were television (86%), newspapers or magazines (36%), and neighbor- hood leaders (26%). Twice-daily temperature monitoring of at least one household member was reported by 95% (n = 1,012) of persons who knew of the campaign and 76% of the 51 who were unaware of the campaign (n = 39). Seven (0.63%) respondents reported a fever in their household during June 1 to 10, 2003. Although five (71%) of these fevers occurred in households in which the respondent knew about the hotline, in only one case was the fever hotline used; actions of the remaining six are unknown. The person who called the hotline reported that the advice given by the physician was to stay home and monitor the symptoms and that the advice was followed. Among all respondents, 24% (n = 267) said that they would call the fever hotline for advice, 54% (n = 605) would go to a hospital, 19% (n = 207) would visit an out- patient clinic, and 1% (n = 10) would do nothing and wait to see if the fever disappeared. The remaining respondents refused or said they would do something else. Discussion The population-wide body-temperature monitoring campaign and fever hotline were innovative interventions aimed at raising public awareness about SARS, improving early detection of fever, and providing appropriate medical triage. Developed as an emergent response to the SARS outbreak in Taiwan, these interventions were rapidly implemented, leaving little time available to develop hot- line data-collection instruments, train hotline staff, or prospectively plan for intervention evaluation. Despite these challenges, the interventions were evaluated by using available data, and a rapidly implemented population- based survey of Taipei city residents. Approximately 50% of calls to the population-wide fever hotline did not result in referrals for further evalua- tion of fever, suggesting they were complaints unrelated to fever. In Taipei, 37% of respondents with body temper- ature recorded had fevers, a low proportion for a hotline intended for persons with fever. The low proportion of febrile persons is likely partly due to the definition of fever used in this evaluation. These results might also be partially due to worried-well callers. To improve appro- priate use of a dedicated SARS fever hotline, media mes- sages should be refined and the use of alternative resources for answering more general questions about SARS should be encouraged. During the outbreak, the Center for Disease Control of Taiwan established a public information line about SARS. If a fever hotline is used in future outbreaks, callers could be referred to the public information line with questions about temperature meas- urement, travel concerns, and other issues not directly related to a current febrile illness. The dedicated hotline Table 2. Reported advice given to persons by recorded body temperatures, Taipei SARS fever hotline, June 1–10, 2003 (n = 1,966)a Body temperature Fever >38°C (%) No fever (%) Unknown/unrecorded (%) 19 (5.0) 42 (6.6) 21 (2.2) 116 (30.7) 55 (8.7) 40 (4.2) 21 (5.6) 2 (0.3) 5 (0.5) 1 (0.3) 0 (0) 0 (0) 221 (58.5) 535 (84.4) 888 (93.1) 378 634 954 Advice given Stay home and monitorb See physicianb Go to fever clinic Call ambulance Unknown or unrecordedb Total aSARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome. bAdvice given to 18 callers at high risk for SARS: for 5 with fever: see physician (1 caller); unknown or unrecorded (4 callers). For 2 callers with no fever: unknown or unrecorded (2 callers). For 11 callers with unknown body temperature: stay home and monitor (1 caller); unknown or unrecorded (10 callers). Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 10, No. 2, February 2004 375