“The scientific community really should have developed universal antivirals against SARS,” says Webster, now an emeritus member of St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. After the SARS threat subsided, interest evaporated - and the world paid the price. One of his top recommendations: develop and stockpile drugs that target a wide range of viral pathogens 1.ĭrug researchers did not heed his call. But it was a close-enough call for Robert Webster, a leading authority on avian influenza, to start urging scientists and policymakers to prepare for the next outbreak. Many experts feared they were watching the start of a global pandemic.įortunately, the worst-case scenario never materialized. And a new coronavirus was spreading around the world causing a mysterious illness that became known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. A pair of deadly influenza strains had leapt from birds to humans in Hong Kong and the Netherlands. The year 2003 was an ominous one for emerging infectious diseases.
