[lizma]

I've read a few recent reports that say it might not be an airborne infection.

A lot of viruses can be spread by touching a contaminated surface and then touching your nose or mouth.

[samtheman]

Flu and colds are also spread by contacting the virus on your hands and then touching your mouth or eyes. By all means, wash your hands often, whether you're around SARS or not.

But this cockroach poop theory strikes me a bit like the early days of AIDS and a now-discredited theory of a mosquito vector.

SARS is much more contagious than AIDS, and I have no doubt that you can get it from not washing your hands, but I predict that people will continue to get SARS from close proximity to other people with SARS and we won't have any cases of the disease "wandering off on its own", just as we don't with AIDS.