Fear of Respiratory Disease Grips Hong Kong

WashPost -- The first doctor to realize that the world was dealing with an unfamiliar disease died of the illness in Thailand on Saturday. Italian Dr. Carlo Urbani, 46, a World Health Organization expert on communicable diseases, became infected while working in Vietnam, where he diagnosed an American businessman hospitalized in Hanoi, Vietnam, the U.N. agency said. The businessman later died.

Fear gripped Hong Kong as the number of people suffering from a deadly flu-like disease increased sharply Saturday. Thousands of people donned surgical masks but many more refused to venture out and activity in the usually bustling city ground to a halt.

Nations across Asia are fighting to contain the illness. Singapore, which has had two deaths, nearly doubled the number of people quarantined to more than 1,500 on Friday.

Nine Hong Kong doctors, nurses and medical students who had the disease and were discharged Saturday said they are living proof that SARS isn't unbeatable.

Dr. Raymond Wong said he wanted to tell Hong Kong that "this is not an incurable disease."

The illness appears to have originated in mainland China, which has been criticized for being slow in reporting some 800 cases and 34 deaths.

This is another huge hit for airlines as well as a likely pandemic.