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Twenty First Century Plague: The Story of SARS, written by veteran journalist Thomas Abraham, is the first comprehensive look at how China and Hong Kong coped with the SARS, and draws vivid portraits of the doctors, health workers, and scientists who put their lives on the line to control the disease.
As doctors and public health officials battled to control SARS, a team of scientists across the world began a race to uncover the vital secrets of the disease. What kind of virus was causing it, and where had it come from? Without answers to these questions, it would be impossible to control SARS effectively. While these questions normally take years of patient investigation to answer, the scientists did not have the luxury of time as the disease swept the world, paralysing the cities and societies most affected by it.
The book documents how teams of researchers from the world's most prestigious research institutions began a race to discover the agent causing SARS. They collaborated with each other, but they also competed to become the first to crack the puzzle of the SARS virus. In the end, it was one of the smallest of the laboratories involved in the search, the department of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, that discovered the SARS virus, pipping at the post some of the worl's best known laboratories.
Thomas Abraham's new book recounts the never before told tale of the scientific race to uncover the secrets of the SARS virus. It also reveals the frustration among scientists in China, who were prevented by bureaucratic and political obstacles from investigating the cause of the disease. This book describes the role played by key figures in China in the fight against SARS, as well as the cover up.
From how the disease first emerged in Guangdong, to the efforts that the government officials made to ensure that the media did not report the disease, the book tells the story in vivid detail. One would read about how doctors and nurses in hospitals in Guangzhou battled heroically to treat patients, risking their own lives in the process.
The book is on sale at major bookstores now.
For enquiries, please contact Miss Winnie Chau at HKU Press (tel: 2550 2703) or Miss Polo Leung at HKU's External Relations Office (tel: 2859 2600).
TWENTY FIRST CENTURY PLAGUE: THE STORY OF SARS
30 Sep 2004
A new book from the Hong Kong University Press tells the story of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, that almost suddenly crippled Hong Kong's economy in the spring of last year.
Twenty First Century Plague: The Story of SARS, written by veteran journalist Thomas Abraham, is the first comprehensive look at how China and Hong Kong coped with the SARS, and draws vivid portraits of the doctors, health workers, and scientists who put their lives on the line to control the disease.
As doctors and public health officials battled to control SARS, a team of scientists across the world began a race to uncover the vital secrets of the disease. What kind of virus was causing it, and where had it come from? Without answers to these questions, it would be impossible to control SARS effectively. While these questions normally take years of patient investigation to answer, the scientists did not have the luxury of time as the disease swept the world, paralysing the cities and societies most affected by it.
The book documents how teams of researchers from the world's most prestigious research institutions began a race to discover the agent causing SARS. They collaborated with each other, but they also competed to become the first to crack the puzzle of the SARS virus. In the end, it was one of the smallest of the laboratories involved in the search, the department of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, that discovered the SARS virus, pipping at the post some of the worl's best known laboratories.
Thomas Abraham's new book recounts the never before told tale of the scientific race to uncover the secrets of the SARS virus. It also reveals the frustration among scientists in China, who were prevented by bureaucratic and political obstacles from investigating the cause of the disease. This book describes the role played by key figures in China in the fight against SARS, as well as the cover up.
From how the disease first emerged in Guangdong, to the efforts that the government officials made to ensure that the media did not report the disease, the book tells the story in vivid detail. One would read about how doctors and nurses in hospitals in Guangzhou battled heroically to treat patients, risking their own lives in the process.
The book is on sale at major bookstores now.
For enquiries, please contact Miss Winnie Chau at HKU Press (tel: 2550 2703) or Miss Polo Leung at HKU's External Relations Office (tel: 2859 2600).
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