WHO issues emergency travel visory Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Spreads Worldwide

International Society for Infectious Diseases ^ | 15 March 2003 | WHO Press release

[UKCajun]

15 March 2003 | GENEVA -- During the past week, WHO has received reports of more than 150 new suspected cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an atypical pneumonia for which cause has not yet been determined. Reports to date have been received from Canada, China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Early today, an ill passenger and companions who travelled from New York, United States, and who landed in Frankfurt, Germany were removed from their flight and taken to hospital isolation.

Due to the spread of SARS to several countries in a short period of time, the World Health Organization today has issued emergency guidance for travellers and airlines.

“This syndrome, SARS, is now a worldwide health threat,” said Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General of the World Health Organization. “The world needs to work together to find its cause, cure the sick, and stop its spread.”

[UKCajun]

Iraq's Dr. Germ...

[Braak]

Just great, anybody got details on this bug, like, specifically, what's the morbidity on this thing?

[UKCajun]

Very suspicious timing here.

[sytole]

Has hit both Canadian coasts.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2003/03/15/43929-cp.html

[Eala]

Iraq's Dr. Germ...

Correlation is not causation.

Back in the early 60s it was not uncommon to hear all sorts of things being blamed on above-ground H-bomb testing. "Unseasonal weather -- jet stream shifted? Must be the Bomb." "Cat had kittens? Must be the Bomb."

I seem to recall reading a day or two ago that this first appeared in China. IMHO, that seems an unlikely first target for Saddam.

And besides, these things are mutating all the time.

[Eala]

This thread, posted sometime earliers than yours, indicates that they think this might be influenza B, though they still aren't certain. According to one unattributed article in that post, this has been circulating in China for several months.

[CarmelValleyite]

This scourage hitting Canada's British Columbia (Vancouver, otherwise known as "Hongcouver" doesn't shock me as the city is a haven for Hong Kong transplants, and this thing appears to have started in Asia. What's surprising is a problem in Eastern Canada. What's THAT all about???

[MigrantOkie]

1)No one knows what it is

2)Highly contagious with airborne transmission

3)looks like 50% develop pneumonia

4)some pneumonia cases require life support

5)not alot of deaths...yet

6)worst of all, no one, repeat, no one with pneumonia has recovered.

This has all the earmarks of being the big bad one everyone has feared.

[Baklava]

Many new diseases--especially new strains of flu--originate in southern China. It has something to do with a dense population living in close proximity to domestic fowl and swine. There is nothing to suggest that this outbreak is anything but a natural occurance. However, it IS a lesson in how modern jet travel helps the spread of disease.

[demosthenes the elder]

LOL

[sytole]

Has to do with someone getting on a plane and flying to Toronto. One thing that struck me is that in a family of 10 people, two are dead, 4 are in the hospital and the rest are under observation. The son that died is 44 years old and from what I read an otherwise healthy adult.

That's a very high mortality rate. Of course we can't arrive at conclusions from such an isolated incident. Will have to wait until some more info becomes available.

[Judith Anne]

Bump to myself because I'm following this.

[MigrantOkie]

Remember the number of troops it killed? If this gets loose in Iraq it will kill millions there plus our troops. 250,000 troops in very close quarters plus millions after a war with no water, little food, no infrastructure, no power, little to no health care. It will be very ugly.

Proper hygene is very important with this one. Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough, wash your hands often. If wish I didn't have to fly tommorow. Statistically this crap has had the opportunity to pass through every airport already.

[Calpernia]

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2003/pr22/en/

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/

[Braak]

Not what I wanted to hear..just great..Well, anybody wanna spin some Blue Oyster Cult?

[Braak]

Or, the damn superbactirum we all feared has come, and it's resistant to just about EVERYTHING we have.

[Endeavor]

I was thinking this was the result of a Chinese test of one of their own bioterror weapons, just due to its seeming initiation in China.

Look how quickly this has spread. Just think what smallpox unleashed by the Iraqis could do. So much for quarrantine and vaccinate.

[2rightsleftcoast]

Stop all immigration now for 6 months till we figure out what this is. Sorry if this sounds crazy but we can't continue to let people from so many different countries come here and think there are no consequences.