Very interesting lecture of Dr. Epstein on Emerging Infectious Diseases. Me and my family were living in Beijing during the SARS outbreak. It was an extremely difficult period due to many unknowns: we did not have any information about SARS; we did not know if the Government knew something about it , but was not publicly sharing; I was told by a Chinese friend that several people died of SARS in the hospital which was not far from my house; a colleague of my husband died of SARS in the building where my husband was working. The school of my children closed temporarily. When I went out to buy food and somebody sneezed, people run away in panic which caused havoc. The lack of knowledge about SARS caused distress and terror.
We, therefore, decided to go to Europe for Easter (April 2003). Majority of the passengers in the airplane wore masks. An eerie atmosphere reigned during the long flight. After landing in Switzerland, we felt so relieved. We did not realize we will face more problems in another dimension….some of our friends did not even want to shake our hands, we were treated like SARS-infested people. My husband went to see the doctor in his Headquarters to seek advice but the guard of the building requested him to leave, we felt abandoned, it was an awful experience.