From Economic Observer Online:
Five years later, though the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak has become just a memory for most Chinese, many survivors remain permanently scarred.
Aside from the emotional impact of lost family and ruined lives, many survivors are struggling with rare bone and lung diseases. The medical community has not reached a consensus on their causes, with some believing that it was a consequence of SARS itself, and others suspecting SARS treatment.
Here are the stories of four SARS survivors.
Living in Pain
By the time Yang Zhixia was released from the hospital one month after the outbreak, her parents, husband and little brother had already died of SARS.
On the day she was discharged, nobody came to take her home. She painfully made her way back to her bungalow in a Beijing suburb only to find that it had been burgaled and left bare. The police told her that at the time of the discovery, because her family had already perished, they were unwilling to notify her with yet more bad news.
