24 SARS the new challenge.pmd

In the first half of 2003, the global community saw the emergence and impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the first severe and easily transmissible new infectious disease of the new millennium. From Guangdong province of China, the SARS virus spread along international travel routes to 30 countries and became deeply embedded in 6 of them. By 11 July 2003, 8427 probable SARS cases had been reported from 29 countries with 813 deaths [1]. There was widespread public panic, and social stability was jeopardized in some of the hardest hit areas. Economists estimated the costs in the Far East alone at US$ 30 billion. The containment of SARS, however, was achieved through the diligent application of centuries’ old control measures. The most pressing questions now are whether SARS is seasonal and could return in winter, and whether the SARS virus could hide in some animal or environmental reservoir and resurface when conditions again become favourable for spread to humans.