SARS

I have just been watching the Channel 4 news, where the major headline is the spread of SARS, particularly in China, and especially in Beijing. I have a friend in Beijing at the moment; his name is Alex. He's been teaching English at a university there for, oh, six or eight months now. He's the son of my brother's godparents, and he and his sister kind of make up for our family's lack of cousins near our age (we have two cousins, but they're about 7 and 9 years old).

His mother was out in Beijing just the other week, with a school trip. They cut it short and came home. She was going to come to visit on Easter Monday, but decided not to just in case she had any problems, and because my mother's immune system is suppressed because of her chemotherapy course. Alex is still out there. His mother (Sue) wanted him to come home instantly, with her, but he has a girlfriend out there, who's, I think, a Hong Kong/something else dual national, and who has immune system problems. He wants to make sure she can come back with him - not surprisingly, he doesn;t want to leave her out there. there have already been at least 4 cases in the university where he's teaching.

I'm really, really worried now. If any of you are the praying kind, prayers would be apreciated.