According to infectious disease experts, the window for eradicating severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is closed, and the disease has probably achieved a permanent place among human illnesses. However, it is not clear whether the epidemic will keep growing, though some nations, such as China, will probably be more severely affected than others. Experts say that China's secrecy over outbreaks of the disease lost any chance of containing it, though it might not have been containable, but technology and alertness helped suspect it more quickly. Researchers are beginning work on developing a vaccine, but that will take years and may not fully eliminate SARS.