Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
chapter 2
epidemic of Fear:
SarS and the Political
Andrew T. Price-Smith and Yanzhong Huang
Great catastrophes may not necessarily give birth to genuine revolutions, but they
infallibly herald them and make it necessary to think, or rather to think afresh, about
the universe.
—Fernand braudel
catastrophes act as the principal catalysts of change, in the belief structures of
those individuals who weather a given crisis, in the macro-level social structures of
affected societies, or indeed in the relations among sovereign states. the emergence
and diffusion of infectious disease on a global scale create a process that has been
underway since the beginnings of intercontinental trade, as plague
bacilli
came to
europe via the Silk road
and europeans bequeathed the terrible gift of smallpox
to amerindian populations with their discovery of the americas (Mcneill 1977;
Crosby 1986). Public health victories against microbial adversaries reached a zenith
in the mid 1970s; however, the pace and intensity of pathogen emergence have
increased with the emergence of HIv, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (bSe),
west nile virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SarS), and virulent H5n1
influenza. Modern processes associated with continuing disease emergence include
environmental degradation, the increased speed and magnitude of international trade
and tourism, conflict, and inequities in the international distribution of resources
between developed and developing countries.
1
During the era of the cold war, public health issues were typically consigned to
the realm of 'low politics', with the exception of biological weaponry. with the end
of superpower rivalry in the 1990s, issues of low politics, such as environmental
change, terrorism, migration, and public health, began to ascend on the international
agenda. the rise of HIv/aIDS as a threat to the economy, governance, and, perhaps,
the security of societies in the developing world has galvanised the academic and
policy communities, as well as many nongovernmental organisations (nGos),
into action against this emerging foe. the SarS epidemic of 2002-03 provided
another example of the importance of public health as an international concern in
this increasingly complex and interdependent world.
