Pandemic flu: lessons from the Toronto SARS outbreak.

A review of the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in Ontario in 2003 found that there had been several faults in healthcare services and that these had contributed to the spread of infection and the deaths of two nurses. This article argues that, six years on, these faults have not been rectified and that Ontario healthcare services may be unprepared for an H1N1 outbreak. The assistant deputy public health minister of Toronto offers her response.