SARS caused more fear and social disruption than any other diseases of our time. While it killed a relatively small number of people it nevertheless buckled economies crippled international trade and travel and emptied the streets of some of the world's most prosperous cities. Where did this frightening disease come from? How did it spread? And will the world be any better-prepared if it returns? For the first time these and other questions are answered in this remarkable inside account of what really took place in those fateful months of 2003 when severe acute respiratory syndrome threatened to engulf the world. Written largely by the public health experts and scientists who were at the centre of the battle this book tracks the ways in which the virus spread how close it came to bringing public health systems to their knees and how in the end an unprecedented global coalition stopped it in its tracks. For health specialists this book will serve as an indispensable guide to the science of SARS providing a detailed account of the clinical symptoms associated with the disease the unravelling of the genetic secrets of the SARS coronavirus and the development of vaccines and diagnostics. This book is published by the World Health Organization s Regional Office for the Western Pacific where 95% of the more than 8 000 global cases took place and where 12 countries or areas were hit some with devastating force.