[Eala]

WHO stated in a statement Wednesday that the outbreak appeared to begin with a single case in Hanoi on 26 Feb 2003.

It's not clear where this came from. According to the above, the first identifiable case was an American in Vietnam, who'd been in southeastern China where there was an oubreak of "atypical pneumonia" -- though they have not proved or disproved any connection yet.

[Domestic Church]

Here's what I've read so far:

It was an American man living in Hanoi who traveled to southern China on business(where they have had mysterious respiratory problems) and then became sick upon returning to Hanoi where he was shipped out to HongKong and the surgeon who was attending this infectious disease patient(?!) then left for a pharmaceutical conference in NYC. And was hospitalized on route to Hanoi in Frankfurt Germany (gee, we have a military base there...how convenient to cross infect)