SARS impact update (1 Viewer)

[Yumi]

[SIZE=no]http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/04/24/sars/index.html

The statistics is believable besides some words related to ideology.[/SIZE]

 

[MikeAlletto]

When this all calms down it will be interesting to see if China knew about it way before it started spreading and did nothing to contain it and didn't tell the rest of the world the true scope of the problem. I wouldn't be surprised if there are many more cases and deaths that already happened because of this in China that they aren't telling the world about.

In an attempt to identify people with fevers, one of the symptoms of SARS, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates have started using sophisticated heat scanners at airport entry points.

Anyone find that a little scary? No you can't get on the plane, you're body temp is running a little hot. You all hear of the guy in Toronto who disobeyed quaranteen and went to work. Thereby forcing them to quaranteen all the other employees? I tell ya, if someone came to my office breaking quaranteen they would have a lot more to worry about than getting sick.

 

[Max Leung]

I heard in Singapore that they will throw you in jail for up to 6 months with no trial, if you break quarantine.

In Canada, no suitable punishment is in place if anyone breaks quarantine. The best they can do is fine you. Pathetic.

I agree with WHO's decision to put Toronto on the list, BTW. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few..."

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

That health care worker who went to a funeral while he was supposed to be under quarantine and then acted belligerent when reminded that he shouldn't be out and about should be fired from wherever he worked. He's obviously not putting anyone else's life before his own.

SARS is spreading here in Toronto because people are behaving selfishly. There are really only two states of mind in Toronto when it comes to SARS: panic and total disbelief.

 

[Edan W]

SARS is spreading here in Toronto because people are behaving selfishly. There are really only two states of mind in Toronto when it comes to SARS: panic and total disbelief.

SARS is not spreading in Toronto actually. Please check out this story in the globe and mail for some up to date information. It's a lengthy story, but I'm referring specifically to these paragraphs:

In Toronto, the centre of the country’s severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak, there have been no new cases in the general community in 19 days, leaving health officials optimistic that the virus is no longer spreading.

And although there is still concern some hospital staff are being infected, a better understanding of the symptoms is keeping any possible spread contained. Ontario’s caseload dropped for the first time on Thursday, listing 257 probable and suspect cases, down 10 from the previous day.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Interesting! Quite a different picture from the one painted on the evening news. Even the respectable ol' CBC seems to have been struck by SARSmania.

 

[Max Leung]

The reason for the WHO warning is the EXPORT of SARS from Toronto to other countries. There have been a few (suspected) cases that drove the WHO to this conclusion. Just today on CBC, a man from Buffalo may have contracted SARS while visiting Toronto.

But, new cases within Toronto seem to be slowing down or stopped altogether. No small comfort for the countries that have cases because of lack of screening for outgoing travellers from Toronto, however.

 

[Yumi]

[SIZE=no]http://fpeng.peopledaily.com.cn/
http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/index.html
http://www.21stcentury.com.cn/index.php
See what happened with your eyes£¡
At this moment what we'd better discuss is what human being should do when we face this disaster.
Don't tell me it is only the business of the places having been attacked!
-Yumi[/SIZE]

 

[Yumi]

[SIZE=no]http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/bjweekend/2003-04-18.html


BTW: website of Beijing daily[/SIZE]

 

[Max Leung]

I think global communications has been instrumental in preventing the uncontrolled spread of SARS across the world. However, I'm worried that the unscrupulous will take advantage of people's fears: selling bogus cures for a quick profit (sadly very common in Asia it seems).

According to a doctor in Toronto who contracted SARS, SARS has the potential to be as bad as the 1918 influenza pandemic (also known as the Spanish flu) that killed between 20 and 40 million people. One percent of people between the ages of 20 and 30 who contracted the virus died during the pandemic, which is unheard of in a flu. Overall, four percent of people who caught the Spanish flu died, which is also very devastating (similar to the bubonic plague). Guess what the percentage of deaths from SARS is? Yep. SARS is serious business.

Critics contend that more people who catch pneumonia die, in an effort to downplay SARS. Unfortunately, I think this is a very misleading comparison. First, pneumonia is easily treated (usually with antibiotics and nourishment), and recovery is virtually guaranteed if caught early enough or if the patient is young and healthy. Second, pneumonia has many causes and many forms (viral or bacterial), so really there are many dozens of types of pneumonia, just like all the forms of influenza. Third, pneumonia mostly kills the very young or the very old. Young adults are mostly unaffected. Fourth, pneumonia is usually a complication resulting from another illness, such as influenza. If you're already healthy, there is little chance you'll get pneumonia directly.

SARS is different: it affects young healthy adults (and may kill 1% of them). It is easily transmissible. One does not need to be already ill from another disease to succumb to SARS.

It's a good thing the media is covering SARS the way they have. I'm certain this has saved many thousands of lives, and has made it easier for health workers to take control of the situation.

 

[Max Leung]

Some information on the Spanish flu can be found here:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/

The effect of the influenza epidemic was so severe that the average life span in the US was depressed by 10 years. The influenza virus had a profound virulence, with a mortality rate at 2.5% compared to the previous influenza epidemics, which were less than 0.1%. The death rate for 15 to 34-year-olds of influenza and pneumonia were 20 times higher in 1918 than in previous years (Taubenberger).

As you can see, SARS compares favorably with the Spanish flu, when you look at the death rates among the different age groups. Don't forget to consider the double-whammy of Spanish flu and pneumonia...

By the way Yumi, are you a student in Beijing?

 

[Yumi]

[SIZE=no]Hi!Max,
Thank you for your information! I found some other information both in Chinese and English through the clue (Spanish flu)as you mentioned.
Hope this is not the same as Spanish flu.
But it is really a right occasion for people to rethink our society, including population vs society,environment vs society and things like that.At this moment,it reminded me of Thomas Malthus's theory.
Yes, I am a college student in Beijing.I majored in Sociology in Renmin University.

-Yumi[/SIZE]

 

[Max Leung]

It's interesting that you mention Malthus. I thought it sounded familiar, and of course a search on google.com showed his connection to Darwin and Wallace. That is, his theory (or observation?) that famine and poverty are an outcome of population growth, helping fuel their idea of natural selection. (I must hastily mention that China seems to have taken Malthus's conclusions to heart).

You could apply Malthus' theory to the life-cycle of viruses too...if a virus kills its host too quickly, it will have a hard time spreading quickly and efficiently. Hence, you would predict that a very virulent and horrible virus like Ebola, which kills its host very quickly, would have limited success spreading to other hosts, unless it mutated into a more mild form. Fortunately for us, this seems to hold true in Ebola's case. *whew*

Other diseases, like HIV, AIDS, hepatitis, malaria, the common cold, influenza, etc. are slow-acting, have long incubation times, and tend to have mild outward symptoms. They take time to spread, but are undetectable without high-tech lab tests, and leave the victim just healthy enough to allow the virus/parasite to infect another host before killing the original victim.

With globalization being a consequence of global telecommunications, trade, and freedom of movement, we can see firsthand how far diseases can spread. Unlike the era of globalization at the beginning of this century, and the centuries before it, we now have the technology to warn of impending pandemics, and have the means to stop or slow down the spread of disease while we patiently wait for the scientists (the real heroes of the last century...can you name one scientist who has helped develop a vaccine that saved hundreds of thousands of lives?) to find the cure.

It's sad that not even I can name a scientist that helped discover the cure for smallpox. But I know who Britney Spears and Wayne Gretzky are!

What degree do you have in sociology? Any specialization in that field? Oddly enough, my mother got a masters degree in demographics here in Canada after moving from Hong Kong! Too bad I don't know what that means. I'll have to bug my mother about it one day.

Reading up on sociology and evolutionary biology is just a hobby for me. It sure makes good conversation when you're in the right crowd, though.

 

[Yumi]

[SIZE=no]Hi!Max,
It sounds you are an interesting person to me!What's your job?Does your job related to education or something like that?Please let me know if you don't mind. Anyway you have known mine!
I used the searcher to look for such scientist who discovered some bacterin. I don't want to say who I found at this moment. What I really want to say is I found another movie website named "Fox Movie.com".It is so funny. And at that moment,I understood I have such destiny related to movies.I am not a fatalist£¨I should declare that!£©
I will get bachelor degree this summer. And I will get the master degree of Sociology in the summer of 2005.[/SIZE]

 

[Philip Hamm]

It's sad that not even I can name a scientist that helped discover the cure for smallpox. But I know who Britney Spears and Wayne Gretzky are!

I think you could find that on the internet if you looked it up. I thought smallpox was never "cured", but that a "vaccene" was created based on the cowpox virus. Basically they shoot you up with a tiny amount of cowpox, which is very similar to smallpox, and your body learns how to fight off the "X-pox" family. Then when you get smallpox your body fights it off no problem. If you're not vaccinated you're out of luck.

 

[Carlo_M]

Max, eerie you should mention the 1918 flu (I won't call it Spanish since there's no definitive proof it came from there, it was just recognized there first). I'm about 2/3 of the way through "Flu" by Gina Kolata which deals with that very subject!

 

[Max Leung]

Oh, I know I can find the names of the people who worked on the vaccine, but my point was that this is stuff never taught in schools or ever uttered by the media.

Carlo, how's the book so far?

Yumi, I'll get back to you on that later. I'll send you a private message (it'll be way off topic to post here!).

 

[Tim RH]

What I really want to say is I found another movie website named "Fox Movie.com".It is so funny.

Actually, when I went to foxmovie.com it sent me to publicfiles.com instead with a warning about SARS on the page. Weird!

 

[Yumi]

[SIZE=no]Hi!Tim,
Is this website that you went to ?
http://www.foxmovies.com/index1.html[/SIZE]

 

[Carlo_M]

Max, it's very good, reads a bit like Crichton, except that it's real life, which makes it a bit frightening to think about.

Fascinating read, though, highly recommended (if I may steal the rating from Ron E.).