[EternalHope]

The statistics I saw on the 1918 Spanish Flu in the United States were:
25% of the population infected.
2.5% mortality rate.
0.5% overall death rate.

We don't know what percent of the population would be infected by SARS, but the mortality rate would be a lot more than 2.5%.

Sample calculation:
75% of the population infected (no prior immunities).
20% mortality rate (not nearly enough ICU capacity).
15% overall death rate.

Result: In a population of 280 million people there would be 42 million deaths. If only 25% of the population was infected, the calculation would give 14 million deaths.

This assumes no panic in the population, and no breakdown in essential services.

[aristeides]

This other SDA link has a different listing of symptoms:

Signs: (may include one or more, and may be different for each rat in the colony)
-Excessive sneezing
-Exophthalmos (abnormal protrusion - bulging of the eyes)
-Squinting, excessive blinking, eye rubbing
-Chromodachryorrhea (red tears, excessive porhyrins are secreted with tears)
-Swollen face and neck
-Lesions (damaged cell tissue) in the lacrimal duct may result in corneal drying with severe secondary ocular lesions (dry eyes, conjunctivitis, ulcers of the cornea, bleeding inside the eye).