Outbreak history on March 12

Historical outbreak-response milestones recorded on this calendar date, drawn from WHO Disease Outbreak News, CDC archives, and primary epidemiological literature.

• 2003

  WHO issues global alert on SARS

  WHO issued a global alert about an unusual outbreak of atypical pneumonia in Hanoi, Vietnam — the first international notification of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), caused by what would later be identified as SARS-CoV-1. The alert prompted the first WHO Global Emergency Travel Advisory and ultimately contributed to the IHR (2005) revision that introduced the PHEIC framework.

  Glossary: PHEIC

Browse the full outbreak history calendar for milestones across all dates.