“The editors had a voice but no say,” Lin wrote in an e-mail. “They were against cancelling the book and in favor of waiting to see if conditions improved, a view shared by most of the research writers.”

Lin, a math concentrator, added that he thought worries were overblown considering the relatively small statistical risk of infection.

“Even after considering the unpredictable nature of epidemics and the possibility that the statistics being released by the Chinese government are incorrect, I still feel that the risk of contracting SARS is on the acceptable side,” he said.

Because other Let’s Go writers have quit over the course of the spring, editors and researchers working on the China guide have been able to take positions working on other guides, Shah said.

—Material from the Associated Press contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Christopher Schonberger contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Elisabeth S. Theodore can be reached at theodore@fas.harvard.edu.