SARS: Identified

Atypical pneumonia has popped up in Hong Kong in a big way.

The public is freaked out, because it's spooky when a virus spreads as quickly as this one has. The nightmare scenario Stephen King described in The Stand seems all too realistic.

Nine people have died; seven in Asia and two in Canada. The World Health Organisation has received over 150 reports worldwide of what's now being called severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

Countries reporting cases of SARS include China, Vietnam, Philppines, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. The disease is resistant to conventional treatments. Scientists are trying to determine is the source is viral or bacterial.

The WHO issued a statement calling SARS a worldwide threat. It's being spread by air travellers. No one knows how many people on a loaded 747 could be infected by one person carrying the disease. The symptoms are specific: coughing, high fever and shortness of breath.

While hardly the superflu of King's novel, it has the characteristics of a dangerous pandemic.

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