SARS: How a global epidemic was stopped

The concern about emerging infectious diseases has been greatly increasing recently, especially with a rising threat of terrorism. There have been consecutive threats of emerging infectious diseases and periodical outbreaks of infectious diseases throughout the history. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) appeared as the first emerging and readily transmissible disease. At the same time, it was regarded as the first successfully controlled disease and showed that international collaboration is required to stop the spread. Last year, there was another threat of potential pandemic influenza, originating from avian influenza. Tension of bioterrorism has been increasing since the occurrence of anthrax terror in 2001. Preparedness is very emphasized because we do not know when or where and how emerging or reemerging infectious diseases will appear. This book is timely published at the time we stress the need for preparedness and it could be the cornerstone of preparedness. This book provides an overview of the SARS outbreak, microbiology of SARS virus, and clinical features of SARS. This book is not just a scientific publication, but also a kind of history book. This book is largely divided into two parts. The first part, the first three chapters, is designated for the history of SARS: it describes the global occurrence of SARS chronologically in detail and the global response. The spread of SARS and the response are reviewed country by country. This book contains unreported materials on how the disease started to spread in China, how it reached Hong Kong and what precisely happened at the Metropole Hotel. Readers can get information how SARS was transmitted from a patient to others including health care workers, from a hospital to hospitals and communities, and from one country to other countries on a timeline. The book also details how people reacted to SARS, how international researchers and officials worked collaboratively, how helpful Internet was in real-time sharing of information, and how the outbreak of SARS was controlled eventually. The distinguishing outbreaks, such as the outbreak at the Metropole Hotel or Amoy Gardens and through Flight CA112, are described separately. Readers can identify the successes and failures of the fight against SARS while reading the first part, and could be better prepared for future infectious diseases. The second part includes the science of SARS. Clinical features are extensively described based on all the published literature. Sporadic cases of SARS have been reported after the containment of SARS outbreak …