The nation hardest hit by SARS was China and the SARS-CoV epidemic underscores the importance of local research infrastructure and governmental support in controlling new emerging diseases. In the end, the successful control of the SARS-CoV is a triumph for the Chinese basic, clinical and public health research infrastructure. The Chinese research community was among the first to successfully culture the virus, sequence the genome and develop rapid RT-PCR based detection strategies (Consortium, 2004) . Despite an early belated response by governmental officials, aggressive quarantine and other public health measures demonstrated the effectiveness of classic methods of tracking cases and their contacts as an effective means of curtailing disease spread. The Chinese research community rapidly demonstrated that SARS-CoV originated from animals and that the open markets were likely sources of future disease outbreaks (Guan et al., 2003) . The closing of the animal markets has played a key role in tempering the scope and duration of SARS and will likely serve to temper the severity and scope of future outbreaks. Using epidemiology, molecular genetics and genome sequencing strategies, a detailed catalogue of the key genomic changes that contributed to disease emergence and spread have been identified and cataloged for future research (Consortium, 2004) . Other key contributions include the development of animal models, vaccines and pathogenic studies. Perhaps most importantly, a local, well-funded basic scientific community is key not only for protecting global public health, but also in protecting the health of global economies.