Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) caught the world by surprise… From the earliest case (November 2002 in Foshan, a city in the Guangdong province of China), the infection spread to 8,096 people in 29 countries. The likelihood of death for those infected was a frightening 9.5%. But the risk of death was not consistent among the population that contracted the disease. Children younger than 12 experienced much milder symptoms. But at age 60 and above, the death rate exceeded 50%. For the first two months of the outbreak, China’s local and national government would not share information concerning the outbreak. ... (full story)