In 2003, WHO responded to an outbreak of new infectious disease that caused tremendous social, political and economic disruptions in many countries across the world: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The international health organization played a key leadership role in combating the spread of this disease and forged an exceptional global response to this first global outbreak of the century. Indeed, in this book published by the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO), Dr Shigeru Omi, Regional Director, has aptly reminded us that “SARS shook the world.”

Most of the twenty-seven chapters are written by the very public health experts and scientists who battled with SARS during the 2003 outbreak. It is divided into five parts (part I: Overall perspective; part II: Country and area perspectives; part III: Outbreaks; part IV: The science of SARS; and part V: The way forward) and has five appendices. The book is richly filled with facts and exclusive inside accounts of what really occurred in those fateful months. It is illustrated with numerous photographs and charts, which manage to convey the information much better than words could.

 The book’s style is engaging, revealing how WHO coordinated the unprecedented global response and how the affected countries and areas managed the outbreaks – from initial denial, to mass mobilization, to controlling the devastating, rapidly spreading disease. More importantly, the book offers insights into the lessons learned from this major public health crisis and provides key information that should be useful for dealing with emerging infectious diseases in the future.