ABSTRACT
The SARS epidemic of 2003 was a voyage into the unknown. Here was a new virus, with no known remedy. In Albert Camus’ novel,The Plague (La Peste), to which we earlier referred, we see that the disease spreads very quickly indeed: ‘I have the ( gures,’ says the Prefect, ‘they certainly are disturbing’ – ‘They are more than disturbing, they are unequivocal’ replies the Doctor ([1947]/2002: 49). But in the case of the plague in the novel, at least there was a serum at hand, if in short supply.
