When the SARS virus
1
began its worldwide spread out of southern China in spring
2003, it caught regional and international health officials by surprise. Its origins
were unknown, its manner of transmission was yet to be discovered, and its rapid
spread was unprecedented in recent decades. First China, then Hong Kong, then
several countries in East and Southeast Asia, and finally North America were all
affected in rapid succession. This was truly the first international health-related
crisis of the 21st century (Abraham 2004; Greenfield 2006) and, therefore, the first
international health communication crisis as well (Ratzan 2003).
Although much has been written about the SARS crisis from economic,
medical, and public health perspectives (Griffen 2005; McCright & Clark 2006;
World Health Organzation 2006), relatively less has appeared from a communication perspective, though the literature is growing (see, Arquin et al. 2004; Eichelberger 2007; Ma 2005, among others identified below, for examples). However,
for researchers in the health communication field, the outbreak of Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) provides a classic opportunity to study a large
range of communication phenomena – both positive and negative – related to an
unfolding public health crisis. Health care professionals, academics, government
officials, news organizations, community action groups, and individual citizens
around the world were all drawn into the situation, and all of them played important roles in sending, receiving, and responding to the messages aimed toward
them from every direction about the emerging SARS crisis.