The lessons that the Chinese learned during the Sars Crisis have been put to good use during the more recent avian flu epidemic.

It was clear during the Sars Crisis that it was a reference point - indeed, it received one of the first cultures of the virus from the far east, and its opinion was relied upon heavily.

Dr Coker, reader in public health there, told us that, "the Sars Crisis forced a re-think globally on global surveillance and was really, in a sense, a dry run for pandemic flu".