SARS Taught Four Important Lessons
SARS, which caused a little more than 8,435 infections and 813 deaths, probably received more media and public attention than it warranted compared to other illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, pneumonia, and diarrhea that each cause more sickness and death every year, says Ezekiel Emanuel, a physician and ethicist (Perspective, p. 589). In fact, he says, the global response to SARS taught four lessons:
The author notes that 20 years ago, when HIV/AIDS was erupting, some physicians and health care workers refused to care for any of the "4-H" patients: homosexuals, hemophiliacs, Haitians, and heroin addicts. But in the recent SARS epidemic, health care professionals stepped up to the plate, and many died. The response to SARS (with quick identification of cause and fairly successful containment) was a test run for a future major influenza or other pandemic.
NOTE: This edition of Annals contains the print versions of two other SARS articles, "An Outbreak of SARS among Hospital Workers in a Community Hospital in Hong Kong" and an editorial, "Listening to SARS," which were released on August 5 on the publication's Web site www.annals.org .
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Annals of Internal Medicine