Jiang, a doctor with the Beijing Emergency Medical Center, is part of a special 16-member task force set up in the center on March 9.

Its job was to transfer suspected or confirmed SARS patients found in general hospitals to designated hospitals specializing in treating the infectious disease. These hospitals include the You'an Hospital, Ditan Hospital, Beijing Thorax (Wenquan) Hospital, Changxindian Hospital, West Branch of Peking Union Medical Hospital (in Xicheng District, for international visitors) and PLA 402 hospital.

To avoid cross-infection, they work in relative isolation in two deserted houses not far from the Beijing Emergency Medical Centre. The two houses were transformed into an interim centre for them to live and work.

Jiang has not seen her son since taking the assignment. He has been living at his school and only returns home once a week.

"It is still not quite clear how the virus is spread," said Jiang.

"Some of us are probably virus carriers. The virus may not attack us, but it is hard to say if we can or cannot infect the old or other people who do not have resistance to the disease."

What worries Jiang most is her family. Her father-in-law has cancer and is quite susceptible to colds or flu.

But what comforts her most is her family's support. After transferring several patients at 7 pm one day, she called her husband and asked: "Do I need to come back? I am afraid of bringing the virus home."

Her husband half-jokingly replied: "My father, mother and I would like to live or die together with you."

Jiang's mother, already in her 80s, lives alone in Beijing.

Three days after Jiang joined the task force, her mother broke her legs and required surgery twice. Doctors told Jiang her mother's condition could worsen at any time.

After her mother was discharged from hospital, Jiang had to find a house-keeper to take care of her.

The only things Jiang herself could do were call her mother every day, tell her what medicine to take and inquire about her condition.

She said that when she went home, "I would wash my clothes well and wear a surgical mask."

Jiang has been disinfecting the floorboards of her home, boiling traditional Chinese medicines, as well as burning joss sticks because of her "close contact with patients."

"I am sometimes worried for myself. I would be isolated if I became infected, and who would take care of my family then?" said Jiang.

"However, it is a serious job that someone has to do. And since I shoulder the responsibility voluntarily, I must finish it and do a good job.

"From the day we accepted our jobs, none of the doctors and nurses has been infected. I think the stringent protection measures are very important."

When transferring patients, they are well protected, wearing epidemic prevention suits, surgical masks as well as goggles.

But two drivers have unfortunately been infected after failing to wear masks and moving too close to patients to ask questions.

After seven weeks, Jiang has become used to her daily routine. She looks no different than before, chatting and joking with colleagues when resting.

Though not on the task force and therefore not working on the frontline, Jiang's other colleagues show their consideration in their own ways.

The chefs in the dining room prepare highly nutritious food using milk, eggs, and vegetables, and also make special lunch boxes to fit the tastes of each member in the team.

Short Messaging Service (SMS) messages from their colleagues have surged in recent weeks. Some even make daily visits to Jiang's team to take them what they need and want.

"They are all brave and have a strong sense of pride regarding their job," said Huang Ying, one of Jiang's colleagues.

Another 67 medical workers at the centre are signing up to join the special team, but Jiang and her fellow team members will not be replaced as long as they remain healthy. The fear is that more medical workers would only increase the channels of infection.

Chen Xilong, a member of the expert team treating SARS patients at the second affiliated hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in South China's Guangdong Province, has been a senior doctor for nearly 16 years.

But he admitted SARS caught him by surprise, especially when the outbreak of the respiratory disease in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, reached its peak in mid-February.

"We discovered that what we Chinese doctors call 'atypical pneumonia' or SARS is highly infectious," he recalled.

"The symptoms are often very serious at the earliest stage."

He was especially saddened when colleagues fell ill with the disease.

At that time, around 500 doctors and nurses in the hospital were engaged in treating SARS patients and 93 medical workers became infected.

"I was baffled and at a loss over what to do. I worried that I would be the next victim," Chen said.

But he continued to work round the clock in isolation wards together with six other members of the expert team.

Chen said he worried most about his family - his wife Chen Taijuan and his seven-year-old son. He had to stop hugging his son.

"I had to tell my son that I had to keep a safe distance from him because I was treating a serious infectious disease," he said.

But Chen did not tell his wife much. She heard more from people other than doctors.

The disease is believed to spread via droplets, perhaps coughed by an infected person, or spread on the surfaces of objects.

"It was impossible for me not to be afraid at that time because of the fact that health workers' families were becoming infected," said Chen Taijuan. "Our apartment is relatively small and the air circulation is bad so I was really concerned about my son's health."

She reminded her husband to pay attention to self-protection in the wards each day and fumigated their home with vinegar, believing it would help with disinfection.

The couple's son also took anti-virus medicine.

As Chen brought home messages that treatment of SARS was steadily improving, Chen Taijuan's worries began to subside.

Their son stopped taking medicine and by February 28, all of the 93 infected medical workers at the hospital had recovered.

Chen said Guangdong doctors have developed some relatively mature and effective methods to treat SARS and are slashing the cost of treatment.

But specific drugs are still not available.

Wu Dongbing, a charge nurse at the department of gynaecology and obstetrics at the second affiliated hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, has shared the joy of birth with mothers for 13 years.

But in February, she suddenly found herself at the frontline of the battle against SARS.

Wu lives in a family of three generations. Mother-in-law Huang Xiuzhang was extremely worried when hearing of neighbors who had contracted SARS.

"At that time, I was so afraid that I threw away all the clothes my daughter-in-law had worn on duty," said Huang.

Knowing she could not stop Wu from performing her job, Huang tried to help her in other ways.

The Cantonese highly value the nutrition of soup, so every day Huang cooked all kinds of soups that were believed to relieve fever for her family.

To avoid contact with family members, Wu rarely spoke with them and did not have meals with them.

Although she doted on her young daughter, Wu had to get her daughter to sleep and play with Huang.

From time to time, there were tears when Wu's daughter wanted to see her.

After repeated explanations by Huang, the young girl always asked: "When on earth will the virus die out?"

Wu's husband had to shoulder all kinds of chores at home in her absence.

Wu began to show signs of fever 18 days after she finished working at the quarantine ward and had returned to her job at the gynaecology and obstetrics department.

"At that time, I was a bit apprehensive, but not scared," she recalled. "Because even if I was unfortunately infected, I knew that I could recover."

Tests revealed it to be a false alarm.

"It shows that the virus can be isolated effectively with stringent precautions," Wu said.

(China Daily April 23, 2003)