More SARS

There's been one reported (and apparently confirmed) case of SARS in Singapore in the last few days. I guess this means that we'll have a return of the panic and hysteria surrounding the disease which gripped the world earlier on this year.

SARS, or atypical pneumonia, killed about 300 people in Hong Kong in the four months or so that it was active here. Ordinary pneumonia kills about 2600 people (mostly old people) per year in Hong Kong. SARS would therefore appear to be less virulent than ordinary pneumonia. And it's far less of a problem than something like malaria, which knocks off a few thousand people per day.