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Kevin Fong at the French Hospital, Hanoi

12/08/2013 GMT

The Story of SARS, Part One

BBC World Service - Discovery, The Story of SARS, Part OneSearch BBC

Meet the medical staff who fought to contain the spread of this pandemic

Kevin Fong meets medical staff who fought to contain the spread of the virus and asks are we better prepared now for the arrival of deadly new diseases?

Dr Kevin Fong begins a two-part special looking back at the extraordinary events which unfolded a decade ago when the disease known as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) first emerged onto an unsuspecting world.

In a matter of days SARS had travelled around the globe from a hotel room in Hong Kong - and would go on to infect thousands of people, in dozens of countries. But standing between us and the virus were hundreds of healthcare workers who risked their lives to fight against and contain this unknown deadly disease, some of whom paid the ultimate price. With concerns rising over H7N9 and MERS, Kevin asks what lessons have we learned since the first SARS outbreak and would those who stepped up to protect us back then, do so again?

(Image: Sign for the accident and emergency unit at the L'Hopital Francais de Hanoi. Credit: BBC copyright)

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