SARS is fake? Is this true?

Tonight I heard that SARS was a complete fabrication, it never exsisted. Is this true?

We discussed in one of my classes. They said that it was a "mock pandemic" set up by the WHO to see if the world, doctors, hospitals and emergency sevrices could handle one.

I had never heard this but everyone else in class seemed to. We are an extremely multi-cultural class and I felt rather stupid. AM I?

Has anyone heard this and can you provide any websites or prove for the argument? I looked on wikipedia and tried to do a web search but found nothing.

Thanks for any help!

SARS is for real, I'm a travel advice and infectious diseases nurse and believe me its real. The only part of your question that may be right is that SARS may have potentially been blown out of proportion by the media, but it is a paternal risk and it is believed that the WHO used as a way off showing the medical institutions how we are not prepared for an major outbreak/pandemic.

SARS is for real man. What you heard is fake not SARS, its that's simple without expanding too much.

SARS is true. check out this link http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/

SARS is very real and very dangerous. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a life-threatening viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus known as SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). SARS is associated with a flu-like syndrome, which may progress into pneumonia, respiratory failure, and sometimes death. The SARS virus is believed to have originated in the Guangdong Province in southern China and has subsequently spread around the world. China and its surrounding countries have witnessed the greatest numbers of SARS-related cases and death.

Well, at least i can tell there's at least 23 people dying because of SAARS in my country.

SARS was real- and the families of those healthcare workers in Toronto who died can attest to that.

I don't think you should feel stupid- you did the right thing by questioning this. So all the reports of people who died were just made up? I KNOW real people died in Canada- it wasn't just pretend. There have been many documents published by the Canadian Infectious Diseases professionals who were personally involved in the ordeal- look for SARS in Toronto healthcare workers.