On March 15, 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a global alert and emergency guidelines for airlines and travelers about a new atypical pneumonia of unknown etiology affecting people in China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam. It was considered a deadly respiratory disease with the potential of developing rapidly into a global pandemic. By March 24, 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was caused by a new strain of virus (the coronavirus) most frequently associated with upper respiratory infections. Both the local and international media reported extensively on the disease