SARS and the Development of Infectious Diseases in Singapore

SARS was an emerging infection and a defining event for infectious diseases in Singapore. It afflicted 8096 persons and killed 774 worldwide in 2013. In Singapore, 238 were infected and 33 died. After SARS in 2003, the development of clinical infectious diseases accelerated. There were ten infectious disease doctors working in Singapore at the outbreak of SARS in 2003. In June 2015, there were 67 infectious disease doctors working in every public and private acute care hospital in Singapore.