SARS : A Case Study in Emerging Infections

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 health care systems does not necessarily protect people from the dangers 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 pandemic influenza teach us that the control of infectious disease is a problem we have not yet solved. Scientists from a broad range of disciplines - biologists, 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. While focusing 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. The book will be of interest to students, academics, and policy makers working in the fields of disease ecology, medicine, and public health.

Angela McLean is a University Lecturer in the Zoology Department of the University of Oxford. Her professional interests are the transmission dynamics and within-host dynamics of infectious agents.
Lord Robert May of Oxford is President of the Royal Society and Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford.
John Pattison is Director of Research and Development at the Department of Health in the UK.
Robin Weiss is Professor of Viral Oncology at University College London.