Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome emerged in China in 2003 and spread to four other countries. It's a disease of the lungs and airways caused by a previously unknown coronavirus, spread via air and saliva. A few thousand people were infected in 2003 and a few hundred died.
Diseases and Disorders - SARS by
Written in basic English. From its beginnings in China's Guangdong Province, SARS became a worldwide epidemic before anyone knew it. The book discusses the disease's symptoms and rapid infection rate, the coverup by the Chinese government, and the quick work by health care workers and researchers from many nations to learn more about it.
Sars: A case study in emerging infections by
The sudden appearance and rapid spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002 served to alert the world to the fact that emerging infections are a global problem. Living in affluent societies with well-developed healthcare systems does not necessarily protect people from thedangers posed by life-threatening infections. The SARS epidemic tested global preparedness for dealing with a new infectious agent and raised important questions: how did we do, and what did we learn?This book uses the SARS outbreak as a case study to enumerate the generic issues that must be considered when planning the control of emerging infections. Emerging infections are more than just a current biological fashion: the bitter ongoing experience of AIDS and the looming threat of pandemicinfluenza teach us that the control of infectious disease is a problem we have not yet solved. Scientists from a broad range of disciplines-biologists, veterinarians, physicians, and policy makers-all need to prepare. But prepare for what?SARS: a case study in emerging infections provides an up-to-date and accessible overview of the tasks that must be addressed by a community that wishes to confront emerging infections. Each chapter is written by a world expert and offers an authoritative and timely overview of its subject. Whilefocusing on SARS, the book addresses a whole range of pertinent considerations and issues, from the use of new mathematical models to account for the spread of infection across global airline networks, to a discussion of the ethics of quarantining individuals in order to protect communities. Thebook will be of interest to students, academics, and policy makers working in the fields of disease ecology, medicine, and public health.
SARS War: combating the disease by
TOC: Editorial / Professor Leung Ping Chung -- Editorial / Dr. Ooi Eng Eong -- Flu's fury; warning from history -- SARS track; situation updates around the world -- WHO-SARS' main fighter; chronology of WHO's involvement -- Policies and measures; containing the virus -- Keeping SARS at bay; a comprehensive list of preventive measures for individuals and organisations -- Impact of the outbreak; economic and social repercussions -- Never too old a remedy; an exclusive interview with Professor Leung Ping Chung -- Starring in SARS; super infectors -- From the ground; real life accounts -- Frequently asked questions -
Molecular Biology of the SARS-Coronavirus by
SARS was the ?rst new plague of the twenty-?rst century. Within months, it spread worldwide from its "birthplace" in Guangdong Province, China, affecting over 8,000 people in 25 countries and territories across ?ve continents. SARS exposed the vulnerability of our modern globalised world to the spread of a new emerging infection. SARS (or a similar new emerging disease) could neither have spread so rapidly nor had such a great global impact even 50 years ago, and arguably, it was itself a product of our global inter-connectedness. Increasing af?uence and a demand for wild-game as exotic food led to the development of large trade of live animal and game animal markets where many species of wild and domestic animals were co-housed, providing the ideal opportunities for inter-species tra- mission of viruses and other microbes. Once such a virus jumped species and attacked humans, the increased human mobility allowed the virus the opportunity for rapid spread. An infected patient from Guangdong who stayed for one day at a hotel in Hong Kong led to the transmission of the disease to 16 other guests who travelled on to seed outbreaks of the disease in Toronto, Singapore, and Vietnam, as well as within Hong Kong itself. The virus exploited the practices used in modern intensive care of patients with severe respiratory disease and the weakness in infection control practices within our health care systems to cause outbreaks within hospitals, further amplifying the spread of the disease. Health-care itself has become a two-edged sword.
SARS in Context by
Former Ontario Chief Coroner James Young and infectious disease expert Dick Zoutman recount their efforts to contain the mysterious new disease. In answer to questions about "lessons from the past," several distinguished historians of epidemics examine how their knowledge of responses to older plagues influenced their perception of SARS. They also reflect on how the advent of SARS alters their views of the past. Finally, policy experts comment on possible changes to health care that the SARS experience suggests should be made.
Sars: Reception and Interpretation in Three Chinese Cities by
SARS (Acute Respiratory Syndrome) first presented itself to the global medical community as a case of atypical pneumonia in one small Chinese village in November 2002. Three months later the mysterious illness rapidly spread and appeared in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Toronto and then Singapore. The high fatality rate and sheer speed at which this disease spread prompted the World Health Organization to initiate a medieval practice of quarantine in the absence of any scientific knowledge of the disease. Now three years on from the initital outbreak, SARS poses no major threat and has vanished from the global media. Written by a team of contributors from a wide variety of disciplines, this book investigates the rise and subsequent decline of SARS in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan. Multidisciplinary in its approach, SARS explores the epidemic from the perspectives of cultural geography, media studies and popular culture, and raises a number of important issues such as the political fate of the new democracy, spatial governance and spatial security, public health policy making, public culture formation, the role the media play in social crisis, and above all the special relations between the three countries in the context of globalization and crisis. It provides new and profound insights into what is still a highly topical issue in today's world.