Two things I have been thinking about with regard to SARS.
1. Mortality rate is 4%. Some say it is higher. Even if it is 10%, that means 90 out of 100 people survive. Not something you want to catch but hardly a death sentence.
On the other hand,
2. It seems that today, most people do not believe a world wide epidemic is something that would or could happen. Of course, history would argue otherwise. Add to that our global mobility and one could easily imagine a repeat of the 14 century or 1919.