10 Years after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome…

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Emerging Infectious Diseases
Volume 19, Number 6—June 2013
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/index.htm

Perspective
Prospects for Emerging Infections in East and Southeast Asia 10 Years after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
P. Horby et al.
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/6/pdfs/12-1783.pdf

Abstract
It is 10 years since severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) emerged, and East and Southeast Asia retain a reputation as a hot spot of emerging infectious diseases. The region is certainly a hot spot of socioeconomic and environmental change, and although some changes (e.g., urbanization and agricultural intensification) may reduce the probability of emerging infectious diseases, the effect of any individual emergence event may be increased by the greater concentration and connectivity of livestock, persons, and products. The region is now better able to detect and respond to emerging infectious diseases than it was a decade ago, but the tools and methods to produce sufficiently refined assessments of the risks of disease emergence are still lacking. Given the continued scale and pace of change in East and Southeast Asia, it is vital that capabilities for predicting, identifying, and controlling biologic threats do not stagnate as the memory of SARS fades.

Perspective
Public Health Lessons from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome a Decade Later
J. P. Koplan et al.
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/6/pdfs/12-1426.pdf

Abstract
The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2002–2003 exacted considerable human and economic costs from countries involved. It also exposed major weaknesses in several of these countries in coping with an outbreak of a newly emerged infectious disease. In the 10 years since the outbreak, in addition to the increase in knowledge of the biology and epidemiology of this disease, a major lesson learned is the value of having a national public health institute that is prepared to control disease outbreaks and designed to coordinate a national response and assist localities in their responses.