Feature

When Asia Sneezes

Globalization has put many U.S. corporations at risk for SARS-related
setbacks

WHILE THE HEALTH IMPACT of the pneumonia known as SARS seems to be abating, the economic toll continues to spread. That could spell trouble for the earnings of some big U.S. companies.

The incidence of the virus causing severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has infected thousands and killed hundreds, has moderated in Vietnam and Singapore, and slowed dramatically in Hong Kong and Canada, some of the hardest-hit nations. But SARS is still on the rise in China, and the World Health Organization last week revised the...