
Riding bikes in Shanghai in the rain, these Chinese wear masks to avoid pollution and germs, 1986. Years later, such masks would become a ubiquitous sight during the outbreak of the SARS virus. PHOTO BY JOAN LEBOLD COHEN.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, is a virus which caused a pandemic when it struck eastern Asia in 2002 and 2003, with large rates of infection recorded in the cities of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, the island of