ABSTRACT
You have arrived at Toronto airport on your flight from Hong Kong. Upon arrival and departing the aircraft you are met by several security and immigration officials pointing a strange-looking device at you. The situation is even more disconcerting when you become aware of the large numbers of passengers and staff wearing cosmetic facial masks – as if about to perform surgery. This was the situation that confronted many passengers travelling both within and from South Asia in 2003. The SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak had sparked a security and health emergency. The virus spread through the movement of people travelling to and from China. From Singapore, to Canada and the Western United States, as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan and regions within mainland China, business travellers, tourists and migrants carried the disease which mimicked a form of pneumonia (www.openscar.com). Along this journey it had infected over 8,000 people claiming around 700 lives. Officers employed at the airport border were using a detection device that could observe raised passenger temperatures – an important symptom that signified a carrier of the virus.
