Last November, a deadly, new form of pneumonia — severe acute respiratory syndrome — broke out in southern China. By the time Chinese authorities acknowledged the SARS outbreak four months later, it had spread beyond China's borders. To date, SARS has sickened thousands in 32 countries; hundreds have died. Public-health experts around the world are scrambling to eradicate the epidemic and develop vaccines to prevent future outbreaks. In the United States, critics say the outbreak is a wake-up call about underfunding of the public-health system. Meanwhile, some health experts worry that Americans may not be willing to accept quarantines and other strict measures needed to stop a SARS epidemic. They want to give the World Health Organization the power to intervene in any country that fails to take appropriate action.

Mary H. Cooper specializes in environmental, energy and defense issues. Before joining CQ Researcher as a staff writer in 1983, she was a reporter and Washington correspondent for the Rome daily newspaper l'Unita. She is the author of The Business of Drugs (CQ Press, 1990). She also is a contract translator-interpreter for the U.S. State Department. Cooper graduated from Hollins College in English.