ABSTRACT
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was responsible for the first pandemic of the 21st century. Within months after its emergence in Guangdong Province, mainland China, it had affected more than 8000 persons and caused 774 deaths in 26 countries on five continents. SARS illustrated dramatically the potential of air travel and globalization for the dissemination of an emerging infectious disease (Peiris, Yuen, Osterhaus, & Stohr, 2003). The history and epidemiology of the year 2003 SARS outbreak, its impact on travel and tourism and strategies to contain the international spread are discussed in this chapter.
