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News Articles: SARS

Military surgeon Jiang Yanyong, the doctor who defied the government and spoke the truth of SARS in 2003, talks at a forum on the 10th anniversary of SARS held in Beijing. He died this past week at age 91.

My meeting with Jiang Yanyong, the Chinese doctor who dared speak the truth about SARS

In 2003, the military surgeon watched in disbelief as Chinese officials downplayed how SARS was spreading — and took the risk of alerting the media to the cover-up. He died this past week at age 91.

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By:
  • Susan Jakes
A raccoon dog looks out of its cage in a Chinese live animal market in January 2004. Raccoon dogs could have been an initial host for the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

Raccoon dogs may have been linked to the pandemic. What are they?

The wild animals are more similar to foxes than to domesticated dogs. Data that suggested a link between raccoon dogs and the origins of the COVID pandemic was removed from an international database.

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By:
  • Kaitlyn Radde
Military surgeon Jiang Yanyong is seen in a hotel room in Beijing on Feb. 9, 2004. Jiang Yanyong, a Chinese military doctor who revealed the full extent of the 2003 SARS outbreak and was later placed under house arrest for his political outspokenness, has died, a long-time acquaintance and a Hong Kong newspaper said on March 14, 2023.

Jiang Yanyong, the doctor who exposed the size of the 2003 SARS outbreak, dies at 91

Jiang Yanyong was a Chinese military doctor who revealed the full extent of the 2003 SARS outbreak and was later placed under house arrest for his political outspokenness.

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By:
  • The Associated Press

How do pandemics begin? There's a new theory — and a new strategy to thwart them

Animals carry millions of pathogens. So it's a daunting task to find the one with the greatest potential to spark a pandemic. Now scientists are rethinking the way they hunt for that next new virus.

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By:
  • Michaeleen Doucleff
An electron microscope image shows a SARS-CoV-2 particle isolated in the early days of the pandemic. It's been nearly a year since omicron was first detected, and scientists say this branch of the coronavirus family tree is still thriving.

Omicron keeps finding new evolutionary tricks to outsmart our immunity

SARS-CoV-2 is evolving "rapidly," spawning one new variant after another. But omicron continues to dominate, raising new questions about how evolution of the virus is headed.

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By:
  • Rob Stein
President Biden directed the intelligence agencies to look for evidence of an accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (pictured). Many scientists still think its more likely the virus came form the wild.

Many Scientists Still Think The Coronavirus Came From Nature

President Biden told U.S. intelligence agencies to investigate whether the coronavirus spread after a lab leak in China. Scientists welcome the request, but many still think it came from the wild.

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By:
  • Geoff Brumfiel