BEHIND THE HEADLINES

1Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Atlanta: Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 2003 (accessed 16 April 2003; http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/).

2 Tsang KW PL Ho Ooi GC A cluster of cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong. N Engl J Med 2003; 348: (published at www.nejm.org on 31 March 2003; http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/NEJMoa030666v2.pdf).

3 Benitez MA. Hong Kong bears brunt of latest outbreak. Lancet 2003; 361:1017.

4Cumulative number of reported cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Geneva: World Health Organisation; 2003 (accessed 16 April 2003; http://www.who.int/csr/sarscountry/2003_04_15/en/).

5 Drazen JM. Case clusters of the severe acute respiratory syndrome. N Engl J Med 2003; 348: (published at www.nejm.org on 31 March 2003; http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/NEJMe030062v2.pdf).

6 Parry J. Hong Kong virus spreads worldwide. BMJ 2003; 326:677.

7 Lee N D Hui Wu A A major outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong. N Engl J Med 2003; 348: (published at www.nejm.org on 7 April 2003; http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/NEJMoa030685v2.pdf).

8 Poutanen SM DE Low Henry B Identification of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Canada. N Engl J Med 2003; 348: (published at www.nejm.org on 31 March 2003; http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/NEJMoa030634v1.pdf).

9 Peiris JSM ST Lai Poon LLM Coronavirus as a possible cause of severe acute respiratory syndrome. Lancet 2003; 361 (9365):5000.

10 Drosten C S Gother Preiser W Identification of a novel coronavirus in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome. N Engl J Med 2003; 348: (published at www.nejm.org on 10 April 2003; http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/NEJMoa030747v2.pdf).

11 Ksiazek TG D Erdman Goldsmith C A novel coronavirus associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome. N Engl J Med 2003; 348: (published at www.nejm.org on 10 April 2003; http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/NEJMoa030781v3.pdf).

12Coronavirus never before seen in humans is the cause of SARS. Geneva: World Health Organisation; 2003 (accessed 17 April 2003; http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2003/pr31/en/).