ABSTRACT
The year 2003 bore witness to the proliferation of the deadly virus known as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which originated from Asia and eventually spread to Canada and other parts of the world. The diffusion of SARS is typically hierarchical, with large cities such as Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, and Toronto as highly infected nodes. Spread to smaller communities followed. However, the most intriguing part of the spread of SARS is the global extent and the rapidity of its proliferation, serving as another reminder that our world today is highly interconnected. The flows of people that criss-cross countries in the form of tourists, business contacts, or migrants are testimony to the globalization process that has gathered momentum since the 1990s.
