FANTOMS
SARS
Diligent readers of their newspapers may have noticed that during the height of the SARS epidemic, there were occasional references to its impact on pregnant mothers and their newborn babies. Many Archives readers probably wondered how it felt to be a neonatal paediatrician among all this. In this issue, our colleagues in Hong Kong tell us how they handled the problems with which they were confronted. They perhaps adopted measures which, with hindsight, might appear extravagant and perhaps unnecessary, but who among us would have done otherwise when faced with an epidemic infection in clinically uncharted territory? At present the WHO believes that SARS is under control, yet we cannot be certain that it will not reappear in China, Hong Kong, or elsewhere, and any of us may yet be grateful that Professor Ng and colleagues have beaten the path for us. See p 405
LESS BIRTHS . . . BUT MORE INEQUALITY
In the UK we have all noticed that the progressive decline in the birth rate over the last 12 years has not affected the relentless rise …
