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The SARS outbreak of 2003 offers a perfect example of a 21st century disease that knows no borders. While in earlier times disease outbreaks might have remained local, today an outbreak in one country can very rapidly become a problem for countries on the other side of the world.
In 2003, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) dominated the headlines of every major news organization. The disease quickly spread to 30 countries in nearly as many days, claiming more than 800 lives and terrifying millions of people. People all over the world were spooked by the news coverage of the citizens of Hong Kong and the major cities in eastern China who wore face masks everywhere to try to prevent transmission of the illness. Travel restrictions were put in place, and the disease crippled tourism in several countries and caused many other ripple effects from school closures to quarantines to various forms of discrimination based on fear that certain people might be harboring the illness. Fear gripped the United States when an outbreak occurred in Toronto, proving that the illness could move out of Asia and go almost anywhere.
The slowing of SARS began when scientists traced the source to a coronavirus that was harbored by civets and raccoon dogs. From there, scientists identified bats as the ultimate source, but they felt that animals confined in Chinese marketplaces may have been the way it spread to people. Marketplaces that featured wildlife trade--cages with tightly packed populations of animals for sale--were quickly closed down, and the spread of the disease began to slow.
Scientists feel that China's reluctance to come forward to admit the outbreak was largely responsible for the crisis. Had the government been willing to address the disease outbreak among animals earlier, perhaps the outbreak, the fear, and the travel bans would never have had to occur.
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