WHEN SARS burst upon Chinese society late last year, Zhong Nanshan suddenly found himself in the front line of the battle to control the disease.

　　As a doctor and a veteran expert on respiratory diseases, Zhong, 67, a member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, has long enjoyed a high reputation in his chosen field but was little known to the general public. However, the arrival of SARS changed that and his name has become a household word around the country.

　　Message of assurance

　　Zhong, director of the Centre for Respiratory Diseases in Guangzhou, was one of the first doctors to encounter SARS victims and he instantly devoted himself to devising a system of medical treatment for SARS patients in South China's Guangdong Province.

　　In February, to prevent panic spreading throughout the province he appeared at a press conference and assured the media and the public that the disease could be conquered.

　　The medical formula he devised for the treatment of SARS victims was quickly adopted by hospitals as was his clinical definition of the disease.

　　Zhong was part of the Chinese delegation attending the special summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok last month. The region's leaders called for international co-operation in the fight against the disease.

　　He has appeared frequently on provincial and national media in China to explain how the disease can be prevented from spreading. During the May Day holiday, he left Guangzhou for Beijing to share his experience and knowledge of the disease.

　　First encounter

　　Zhong's battle with SARS began with one patient in his Guangzhou research centre in January. The patient's peculiar condition attracted his close attention and led him to begin his research //into// the then unknown disease.

　　The patient, from Heyuan in Guangdong Province, had been admitted to the hospital in December as a pneumonia patient. He was later confirmed to be the second SARS case in the country.

　　"During my daily check-up in the wards, some doctors told me about this strange patient," Zhong recalled in an interview shown by CCTV. "He appeared to find it very difficult to breathe."

　　Yet, what was confusing was that the patient had not developed a high fever, which was a typical feature of pneumonia. Also, his other organs were all fine - except for his lungs.

　　"His lungs were very hard," Zhong said. "Normally, lungs are like a rubber ball, which can expand or shrink as air is pumped in or taken out. Yet, this patient's lungs were like plastic without any elasticity."

　　After antibiotics proved fruitless, Zhong tried using hormones in large dosages on the man who was then in a critical condition. To his relief, on the second day of treatment, the man's condition began to improve.

　　However, what surprised Zhong and his colleague was that eight people who had been in close contact with the man were all hit by the strange disease.

　　"They were either family members or medical staff," Zhong said. "Later, the patient was transferred to another hospital, and the medical workers who accompanied him on the ambulance once again were infected, and the ambulance driver even became a victim too."

　　Gradual discovery

　　Zhong and his colleagues felt that something extremely dangerous was lurking behind the flu-like disease.

　　Meanwhile, more cases had emerged in Zhongshan, a city in Guangdong Province. An expert team headed by Zhong rushed to the city on January 21.

　　They first named the new disease "Atypical Pneumonia" in their report, later refined to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome by the World Health Organization (WHO).

　　As more cases - including many doctors and nurses - were reported as SARS victims in the province, Zhong proposed to provincial authorities that patients who were in a critical situation should be sent to his research centre.

　　"On the one hand, the centre specializes in respiratory diseases, and more patients may be saved in time, " he explained. "On the other hand, the disease is highly contagious, and a designated hospital can reduce the risk of spreading the infection."

　　Over the next several days, more than 60 seriously ill patients were sent to his hospital and from then on, Zhong and his staff devoted themselves to urgent rescue work, standing at the front line of the fight even at the risk of their own lives.

　　To get more accurate first-hand knowledge for his research //into// the disease, Zhong, regardless of his age, insisted on personally examining every patient every day.

　　"I had thought of my age and my physical condition, but I thought more about the unknown," he said.

　　Although confident about his physical fitness, Zhong eventually became ill due to the excessive strain caused by the long hours of dangerous work. So as not to affect the morale of other doctors, Zhong did not tell anyone of his sickness. He just went home alone and recovered after a two-day rest.

　　Man of conviction

　　"A man can overcome many difficulties when he is pursuing or doing something with heart and soul, so I recovered quickly, supported by such an idea of my work," he said.

　　Patients and medical staff were also deeply impressed by his consideration for them. Every day he would visit staff members who had become ill.

　　Inspired by his boldness and devotion, all medical staff at the hospital threw themselves //into// the fight against the disease and although 14 doctors and nurses became infected with SARS, no one withdrew or asked for leave.

　　"A doctor was infected by the disease even though he had been wearing four masks," Zhong said. "His condition worsened quickly and his heart beat was only 40 times a minute at the crisis. He shed tears before me because of his almost unbearable suffering and yet, after he began to recuperate, he never expressed any regrets for //having// begun the work."

　　After day-and-night non-stop hard work, Zhong and his colleagues finally announced their great finding on the virus on April 12. This was approved by WHO four days later.

　　Today, with the SARS situation successfully contained in Guangdong, Zhong is sharing his invaluable experience with medical staff in Beijing. At a recent conference, he predicted that Beijing would witness a drop in the number of new cases being reported each day after the middle of this month and that the whole situation in the city would be greatly improved in June.

　　"It is my aim to know more about the disease," he said. "My biggest motivation is to find the cause of the disease and an effective therapy."