In The News

Mystery Ailment Watch Expands

Barbara Feder Ostrov April 4, 2003
With nine residents affected by SARS, Santa Clara County in California has the highest concentration of infected people in the United States. Though the U.S. Centers for Disease Control have published guidelines for American public health officials about how to deal with the illness, Santa Clara officials have broadened the CDC’s definition of the disease in order to quarantine more possible...

Terrifying for Asia, Worrying for the World

April 3, 2003
With the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), all fingers are pointing to China. World Health Organization Officials believe the disease spread more quickly because of China’s reluctance to admit that the disease originated in its Guangzhou region. The outbreak went undetected by international health organizations and spread through doctors and businessmen traveling in Southeast...

Why Epidemics Still Surprise Us

Andy Ho April 1, 2003
The world is not prepared for an outbreak of something like SARS, which has been plaguing much of Asia and is quickly spreading around the globe writes physician-turned-columnist David Ho. In this opinion piece in the New York Times, Ho says "the World Health Organization has been [ineffective] in creating and enforcing a public health policy suited for a global outbreak like this one....

WHO Says Mainland Officials Continue to Hinder Investigation

Leu Siew Ying April 1, 2003
The World Health Organization says that officials investigating the origin of the devastating pneumonia outbreak in Asia are still being denied permission to travel to southern China's Guangdong province, where the illness is suspected to have originated. With over 800 reported cases in the area – the largest number yet in any WHO member country – international health officials are...

SARS Virus Begins to Take Toll on Global Economy

Jacqueline Thorpe March 31, 2003
Fears over the war in Iraq, aftereffects of September 11th, 2001 and high rates of unemployment in the US have already taken their toll on the global economy. Making matters worse, the recent outbreak of the SARS virus, an acute respiratory illness, is hitting hard at an already struggling travel industry. SARS has kept people at home in the worst-affected Asian countries. In Hong Kong, for...

China Raises Tally of Cases and Deaths in Mystery Illness

Elisabeth Rosenthal March 27, 2003
The mysterious pneumonia known as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) that has been plaguing much of Asia has claimed more lives than previously thought. Yesterday China told officials with the World Health Organization that its total cases of SARS number almost 800, with an estimated 31 deaths. Apparently the disease has turned up in Beijing – thousands of miles north of Guangdong...

China Bars W.H.O. Experts from Origin Site of Illness

Lawrence K. Altman March 26, 2003
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has now appeared in thirteen countries, with at least 487 known cases of infection. It is believed to have originated in China’s Guandong province, but Chinese officials are preventing World Health Organization (WHO) teams from investigating. There has thus been no independent verification of the number of SARS cases in China, whether cases have occurred...