In The News

In Chinese Village, Few Clues to Illness

John Pomfret April 9, 2003
WHO researchers hoping to find the causes of SARS were disappointed when they searched an unimposing village in southern China, the purported epicenter of the mysterious disease. Many scientists suspected that SARS could be a case of a new animal virus affecting humans, but the village was no longer agricultural and few animals were found there. As scientists continue their searches, improved...

Respiratory Disease Is Found to Be Spreading

Lawrence K. Altman April 8, 2003
On March 15th, the World Health Organization issued a global health alert for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a new disease originating in Asia for which the cause and cure remain unknown. Since then, many countries have taken precautionary steps to prevent SARS from entering their borders. But international travel available to billions has provided the perfect medium for the disease...

China’s Workers Risk Limbs in Export Drive

Joseph Kahn April 7, 2003
In recent years, China has become the “world’s factory” for labor-intensive goods. However, the factories producing these goods often lack safe machinery or appropriate oversight. As a result, accidents that result in a lost limb or a life have increased, especially among the migrant laborers who work at these factories. Even though statutory laws are in place governing safety and compensation...

Use SARS as Excuse to Reinvest in Taiwan

Huang Tien-lin 黃天麟 April 7, 2003
SARS is frightening, but so is the 'economic Sinocization' that threatens Taiwan, says Huang Tien-lin, a national policy adviser to Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian. In this opinion piece from the Taipei Times, Huang suggests that by encouraging Taiwanese businesspeople to stay home in relatively safe Taiwan, "the [SARS] crisis will not only boost the nation's GDP but...

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....