On Apr. 2 President Bush helped clear the way by signing an order granting health officials the power to quarantine patients with SARS, adding it to a list of killers such as smallpox, cholera and Ebola.

FORBES: OutFront

Across Asia, health officials have been re-enforcing old quarantine laws, shutting schools and imposing restrictions on travellers.

ECONOMIST: Still spreading | The

Hundreds of guests and staff were under quarantine in China on Saturday after health officials determined that a hotel guest had contracted the H1N1 virus.

CNN: Farmer may have given swine flu to pigs, Canada says

Since the summer, masked health officials have screened the country's airports, hauling some 800 feverish-looking visitors off to quarantine on arrival.

ECONOMIST: Swine flu in Egypt