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For a frantic few months, the virus was everyw here. Even when not physicall y
present, its name was everyday writ large on television screens and the covers of
newspapers: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, known fur better by its acrony m.
SARS. Headlines screamed the death tolls. The 9 o'clock news mopped out the new
geographica l mens where the virus had spread overn ight. Radio announce rs warned
people to wear their protective masks and avoid public places at all costs. The messages
were impossible to avoid. SARS equaled fear. SARS equaled the unknown. SARS
equaled the uncontroll able. SARS equaled death.
And then, almost as suddenly as it had arrived , the virus disappeared. No cure or
vaccine prompted its departure; no great medical breakthrough hastened the world
towards a SARS·free future. Instead, in the end, the simple measures were what proved
most effective: isolating the contaminated, regular temperature checks. public
announcements on proper hygiene measures. vigilance. There were those who predicted
that the virus would return, but their warnings have so far proved ground less. As of early
2008, a full four years after the last cases of SARS whimpered out of exis tence, there
have been no relapses, no new outbreaks . The virus ex ists now only in test tubes in
highly-guarded facilities, and in the memories of those who surv ived.
There are thousands of questions that could be asked about an epidemic such as
this. Where did it come from? Why did it appear? Why didn't it prove more lethal'? Is
there a cure? Will it ever return? Medicine has answered many of these questions, as will
be revealed in these pages. However, there are many more questions that lie beyond the
normal interests of virologists , and many perspectives that do not appear in the pages of