Magda Ibrahim first learnt that she had endometrial cancer when she went to a clinic to diagnose recurring bladder pain and an abnormal menstrual discharge. Unable to afford the recommended hospital treatment, the uninsured 53-year-old widow turned to what she hoped would be a quicker and cheaper therapy.
When a 12-year-old boy became Cambodia's latest victim of bird flu, at the beginning of this month, it only added to the uncertainties surrounding this lethal virus that worry scientists and doctors struggling to head off a possible pandemic.
After years of oppression and secretive rule, Burma's generals appear to have come up against resistance from an unlikely opponent-avian flu virus.
Diseases that are associated with animals but which can be transmitted to humans - a process known as zoonosis - pose an unpredictable and growing threat that has international experts in animal and public health worried.
Public health officials worldwide say they are better prepared for a re-emergence of the SARS virus, but concerns persist that developing countries might lack the resources to quickly respond to an outbreak.
For South-east Asians who have had to live uneasily from one mask to the next, the waning of the SARS outbreak is a relief. Piles of used masks no longer clog public rubbish bins, and health workers are breathing easier.
While the World Health Organization recently declared an end to the SARS crisis for now, Canada's health system is still reeling over its failure to initially control the disease in Toronto.
After all the speeches at this week's first global conference on SARS, the diagnosis has to be that although three months of unprecedented international cooperation has stemmed its spread this time around, much more remains unknown about the deadly virus.
For Chinese journalist Bai Weitao, the last few months have been nothing less than a nightmare that changed the life he knew, and made him value all the little things he took for granted.
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which has been reported in Southeast Asia and Canada, is causing panic in Southern Africa.
As the SARS outbreak here appears to ease a bit, hopes are growing that China's tardy tackling of the epidemic might have a positive side effect - and force its leaders to confront the country's lopsided reforms in public health.
The mass resignation of nurses and doctors fighting the SARS outbreak in Taiwan presents a striking contrast to the united front of medical workers that mainland Chinese propaganda is portraying in Beijing's own battle to contain the epidemic.
South-east Asian countries like Singapore have begun to cautiously hope that they have weathered the worst of the SARS outbreak, although it still looms large as a new and deadly health threat.
The World Health Assembly got underway in an unexpectedly optimistic climate due to the decision of the United States to withdraw its objections to the first global treaty on tobacco control, paving the way for its approval Wednesday.
In today's hard-hit global tourism industry, it is becoming more important to be able to advertise a destination as an area free of problems like the SARS epidemic or terrorism threats than to promote natural and architectural attractions.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo brimmed with pride when the leaders of Singapore and China said at the recent SARS summit that Filipino nurses were performing admirably during the health crisis, but that praise also draws attention to one of the country's biggest illnesses - the exodus of its best nurses.
China's all-out war to contain the spread of SARS has spread to cyberspace, showcasing the influence of a young but thriving Internet society in the world's most populous nation.
A new North American agency will provide shock troops for the fight against new viruses like SARS and West Nile, health officials say.
The latest casualties in the panic over SARS in China range from pampered pets that have been beaten to death or abandoned due to fear that they carry the virus, to animosity toward southern Chinese who feast on exotic animals.
China's aggressive presence in local markets has caused headaches for Mexican entrepreneurs, to the point that some say they are relieved by the temporary decline in the Chinese drive resulting from the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the Asian giant.
Egypt is officially SARS-free, and the government is taking elaborate measures to keep it that way.