SARS: A Case Study in Emerging Infections

Abstract

Angela R. McLean, Robert M. May, John Pattison, and Robin A. Weiss (eds), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Pp. 142. £55 (hbk). ISBN 0–19–856818–5. Originating from a Royal Society Discussion Meeting, this book tells us how, in the winter of 2002–03, within a matter of days of learning that the new viral disease Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) had appeared in Guangdong Province in mainland China, the WHO applied the whole battery of steps outlined in the International Health Regulations. Drawn up in 1969 and made legally binding on signatory states, these regulations had never before been put into effect with such speed, efficiency, and global reach. By 5 July 2003, the WHO was able to announce that the SARS threat had been contained and that it no longer posed a global threat. Assisting the WHO leadership in making this remarkable success possible were the tens of thousands of people who submitted to quarantine restrictions (voluntarily and through state compulsion), the thousands of hospital staff in dozens of cities on whom fell the duty of treating the SARS sick, and the eleven medical research laboratories that focused on the disease and which were located in such diverse locations as Hong Kong, Mainland China, Canada, the USA, Germany, and the UK.