The number of victims from the SARS epidemic may have been greater if a Japanese doctor at the World Health Organization had not acted swiftly after receiving word about a new and deadly virus in southern China.
Hitoshi Oshitani, 44, is a regional adviser on infectious diseases at the WHO's West Pacific Secretariat in Manila.
On Feb. 10, Oshitani received three e-mails simultaneously informing him of a strange outbreak in China's Guangdong Province.