Beating Back the Bug

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Leo Ma should be frightened of SARS. The Hong Konger caught the disease in the devastating Amoy Gardens outbreak, and he was only discharged from the hospital on April 24. The nature of the virus is still so mysterious that nobody even knows whether or not a recovered patient like Ma can be reinfected. But with the disease on the wane in Hong Kong, SARS no longer seems so terrifying to him. While Ma says he'll "still be careful and maintain personal hygiene," he's already given up wearing a surgical mask.

In much of Asia, cautious optimism is replacing blind panic as the new response to SARS. Sure, China remains a high-risk zone, and Taiwan's statistics are looking bad. But if SARS is eventually defeated, last week may be remembered as the beginning of the end. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the SARS outbreak contained in Vietnam, one of the first countries to be invaded by the virus, and it lifted the travel advisory on Toronto. Meanwhile, Singapore and Hong Kong have brought their rates of new infections down to levels that many residents view as acceptable. "Our hope is that we can drive this disease out of the human population and back into nature," says Dr. David Heymann, the WHO's executive director for communicable diseases. "We have a chance of making it disappear."

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One reason for this optimism is that the region appears genuinely united in fighting SARS. Last week the Association of Southeast Asian Nations convened a special meeting in Bangkok on SARS—which was attended by China, too—to discuss how these Asian nations could cooperate on stopping SARS. The participants decided to strengthen early-warning systems for emerging infectious diseases and coordinate in setting up predeparture health screenings for travelers.

While much about the disease remains unknown, doctors and governments are increasingly confident that even simple prevention measures and surveillance are highly effective in slowing down or even halting the disease. Vietnam was able to end its outbreak through vigilant contact tracing and isolation of patients. Tightly controlled places such as Singapore have adopted even more stringent procedures. Its infection-control methods have almost everyone in the city-state taking his or her own temperature twice a day and quarantine measures have extended even to the wife of Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. It's paying off. Some believe Singapore may be able to declare the disease officially contained before the end of the month.

Even in hard-hit Hong Kong, life is gradually returning to normal. Masks are no longer omnipresent, once vacant cinemas are filling up again—and the alleys are once more strewn with garbage. SARS-weary residents are encouraged by the slowing infection rate. "I have started going to karaoke again," says Julie Ong, a 24-year-old auditor who spent the peak of the territory's epidemic in self-imposed hermitage. "I just decided that I couldn't live like this forever."

With the mainland's SARS epidemic still untamed—Heymann says "China will make or break this outbreak"—it's too early to celebrate. But after weeks of rising death tolls and plunging economies, a little good news is welcome. "(It's) very encouraging," says Dr. Ali Kahn, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official seconded to Singapore. "But does that mean it's over? Absolutely not."