Posted on 04/01/2003 7:55:55 PM PST by EternalHope
SARS Mystery Deepens
By Laurie Garrett, Staff Writer
April 1, 2003, 8:47 PM EST
Amid heightened concern about the new illness known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the mystery of just what it is deepens. Scientists working on the Toronto outbreak reported that the agent responsible is "a novel virus that is not closely related to any of the known clusters” of coronaviruses, the prime family of suspected microbes.
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Autopsies revealed the virus caused parts of the lungs to hemorrhage blood, as would be the case with a hemorrhagic fever virus such as Ebola.
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... Canadian SARS Study Team isolated viruses from several patients, performed genetic analysis of the viral RNA and concluded that the culprit's "conserved region” -- the hallmarks of a species -- is 78 percent identical to similar sections of genes found in common coronaviruses. But the study found other sections of the virus' RNA bear no resemblance to any known coronavirus, either human or animal.
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...unpublished data indicate the virus "looks more like an animal coronavirus than a human one, but we don't know what animal yet.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
These are the most up-to-date details as of April 3:
Total number of reported cases: 2,325
Confirmed death toll: 78
Australia: One case reported.
Belgium: Once case reported.
Canada: 160 cases reported. Six dead.
China: 1,190 cases reported. 46 dead.
France: One case reported.
Germany: Five cases reported.
Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region): 708 cases reported. 16 dead, including a patient who was medically transferred from Vietnam.
Italy: Three cases reported.
Ireland: Two cases reported.
Romania: Three cases reported.
Singapore: 95 cases reported. Four dead.
Spain: Once case reported.
Switzerland: Two cases reported.
Taiwan: 13 cases reported.
Thailand: Seven cases reported. Two dead.
United Kingdom: Three cases reported.
United States: 72 cases reported.
Vietnam: 58 cases reported. Four dead.
Not really, they didn't take into account that they're crude by nature, are unhygienic, and don't cover their bloody mouths when they cough. They did their darndest to cover it up, and now the only ones maing any significant progress in fighting it is us Canucks.
7 Dead, mostly elderly. 160 is not an accurate number. Of those 160, less than 70 are confirmed, the rest are suspected. We're not taking any chances, so the numbers are bloated. Today is a watershed day, the local news made sure to tell anyone that if they have a headache today, stay home, no matter what.
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