SARS

One of the recent and most dangerous infectious outbreaks was SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which occurred between November 2002 and July 2003. It started in Hong Kong and nearly became a pandemic, with 8,422 cases and 916 deaths worldwide. As of today, the spread of SARS has been fully contained, with the last infected human case seen in June 2003 but it may still be present in its natural host reservoirs (animal populations) and may potentially return into the human population in the future.