SARS or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has infected about 1,800 people worldwide. It has killed 63. I don't think people are taking it seriously yet. They should be. SARS is spreading. Just today, Hong Kong started moving infected persons into countryside camps and California officials quarantined American Airlines Flight 128 arriving in San Jose from Tokyo.

SARS is considered to be "a severe form of pneumonia", though its cause is unknown to date. Several research labs have postulated that SARS is caused by a virus in the same family as the common cold.

So far, world reaction to this new disease has been muted at best. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has just extended a "travel advisory". Big deal. SARS continues to spread. I'm afraid that it'll spread too far before any effective action is taken.

Should we be evoking images of The Andromeda Strain or The Stand in our minds--i.e., panicking? I never think panic is a good idea. But a "travel advisory" seems a little weak.

If we know that SARS is spreading through air travel, then should we be allowing air travel to and from the places where the disease is a severe problem, like Hong Kong, Guangdong Province of China, Singapore, Vietnam, and Taiwan? Again, "travel advisory" seems woefully insufficient.

Basically, world governments don't have to guts to ban travel for fear of economic repercussions or being accused of not being politically correct. But what good will economics and political correctness do if humanity faces a major plague?

As Barney Fife would say, "NIP IT IN THE BUD." The time to act is now, before we have a truly frightening problem on our hands:

PLEASE INFORM YOURSELF ON SARS.

TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TO TAKE ACTION TO CONTROL SARS.