June 27, 2003

The Personal Predicament of Public Health

By JANE S. SMITH

These are the glory days of public-health awareness. Officials speak of "public-health infrastructure" and "first-line responders" with an unprecedented confidence that their listeners will know what they mean, and care. Concerned citizens -- and we are all concerned citizens now -- follow the front-page diagrams charting the spread of SARS, with the same worried diligence once applied to maps showing the possible trajectories of enemy missiles.

But how much has the public