Killer-flu a 'white terror': Expert, "It is the worst medical disaster I have ever seen."

Herald Sun ^ | 03-27-03

[Mother Abigail]

Killer-flu a 'white terror': Expert

By Catherine Armitage, Leigh Dayton

The Prince of Wales Hospital, where Dr Chung treats SARS patients, has had 69 medical staff struck down by the illness.

"I feel terrible seeing my colleagues struck down one after another," Dr Chung said. He said one doctor's lung function was "totally destroyed", highlighting the stress such cases cause among professionals.

China admitted yesterday that the number of mainland deaths was almost five times the number previously acknowledged and infections were double the number revealed by officials until now.

Guangdong officials point to news reports that said 24 people had died and 680 had been infected in that city by the end of February. SARS is poorly understood and scientists have yet to nail down its cause.

Chairman of the Communicable Disease Network of Australia David Smith said it was not unlike the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

As with HIV-AIDS, medical and health professionals were struggling to pin down the infectious organism and must work with "very broad" definitions of the symptoms, Associate Professor Smith said.

Once experts identified the pathogen, along with its origin and behaviour, they would be better able to treat SARS and prevent its spread.

But progress is being made. Experts now know masks, gowns and protective clothing limits the disease's spread.

A World Health Organisation team has arrived in Beijing to help scientists with laboratory work and review evidence linking the Guangdong and Hong Kong outbreaks.

Australia's WHO team leader John Mackenzie, of the University of Queensland, said his Chinese colleagues had provided "very good data" on the Guangdong outbreak between November and February, but there was a "long way to go".

In Australia, three people are under investigation, but so far no cases have been confirmed.

[TaxRelief]

Let's all reread The Stand and meet back here for Book Club in say, 1 week?

[TaxRelief]

Actually, it is possible, if the pnuemonia is viral (hence antibiotic resistant).

[Mother Abigail]

Hong Kong Diocese issues guidelines to prevent spread of SARS

HONG KONG (CNS) -- The Hong Kong Diocese has issued special guidelines for church activities to prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, an atypical pneumonia known as SARS, that has killed at least 10 people locally.

"Guidelines for the Prevention of the Spread of Atypical Pneumonia," a two-page document released by the diocesan chancery March 25, deals with sterilization of churches and with close body contact during Mass, confessions and Sunday school, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Parishes are told to clean more often and sterilize church floors, kneelers, toilets and confessionals while maintaining good ventilation during church services.

Protective masks are to be provided for people at church entrances. The guidelines advise Catholics suffering from a cough, fever or respiratory difficulty not to attend Mass, even on Sunday, but pray privately instead. Use of holy water fonts at church entrances is to be discontinued temporarily

[rmmcdaniell]

Guangdong officials point to news reports that said 24 people had died and 680 had been infected in that city by the end of February. SARS is poorly understood and scientists have yet to nail down its cause.

24 / 680 = 3.5%

6,000,000,000 worldwide population * 3.5% = 210,000,000 deaths worldwide assuming the mortality rate is correct and remains constant.

[altayann]

And in other news today...

Ontario declares SARS an 'emergency'

Thousands of people in the Toronto area are being asked to put themselves in "quarantine" by staying at home or wearing surgical masks in an effort to contain the deadly outbreak of the mysterious illness known as SARS.

And the Ontario government announced on Wednesday that it was treating the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome as a "provincial emergency."

Toronto's Medical Officer of Health said everyone who visited the east-end Scarborough Grace Hospital since March 16 should remain in their homes for 10 days since that visit.

Their family members may go to work or school, but must wear a mask when at home and in contact with those who are at risk of infection.

[rmmcdaniell]

24 / 680 = 3.5%

6,000,000,000 worldwide population * 3.5% = 210,000,000 deaths worldwide assuming the mortality rate is correct and remains constant.

Ok well I forgot to mention that not everyone would be succeptable and aquire the disease. However many of the infected individuals have not recovered and may yet die. So the mortality rate may be higher.

[BriarBey]

Canadians are a high percentage of French...who are afraid of their shadows....shoot they will all sufficate in sealed rooms. Move along..nothing to see here.

[altayann]

Toronto's a two and half hour drive from Buffalo, NY, for those of you who don't know geography very well.

[BriarBey]

Toronto's a two and half hour drive from Buffalo, NY, for those of you who don't know geography very well.


AND? You think they will drive 2 1/2 hrs to seal themselves in a room? I doubt it, they wouldn't walk across town to help an Iraqi citizen.

[Mamzelle]

horses and zebras...

It's almost never a zebra, but a horse presenting with black and white stripes.

[lady_love]

>Canadians are a high percentage of French...who are afraid of their shadows....shoot they will all sufficate in sealed rooms. Move along..nothing to see here.

ROFLROFL
The Mother of All Sealed Rooms

[Mother Abigail]

Yes

[maestro]

Is this an antibiotic resistant pneumonia spliced to a common cold virus?

A good question?!

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Then again, China has been brewing new flu strains for a century or more, and nobody has tried to do anything to correct the situation.

There may come a time sooner than later when China will be faced with the dilemna of cauterizing the wound to sterilize the plague........if you get my fallout!

[Mother Abigail]

Hong Kong

Police officers catch pneumonia

2003-03-27 00:24

Police have confirmed that two officers have contracted atypical pneumonia. One of them is a civilian staff member. The force said the pair, who are in a stable condition in hospital, did not catch the disease at work. It said all officers working in high-risk places, such as hospitals, had to wear masks and gloves, which would also be provided to frontline officers, if necessary.

[Judith Anne]

When you have a chance would you please post your summary table of articles again? No rush.

[Mother Abigail]

Canadian province seeks to quarantine thousands as SARS cases rise

33 minutes ago

TORONTO (AFP) - Health officials in Ontario, Canada's largest province, took drastic precautionary measures against the potential spread of a deadly form of pneumonia that has killed three in Canada and possibly infected another 29.

 Toronto's Medical Officer of Health Sheela Basrur said she was advising thousands of people who visited a Scarborough hospital, where one of the victims of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) died, to put themselves under voluntary quarantine.

Basrur said anyone who visited Scarborough Grace Hospital in-patient ward since March 16 should wear a mask and stay at home for 10 days from his or her last visit there.

"This number will be in the thousands," she admitted, noting the outbreak of SARS -- or atypical pneumonia -- in the Toronto area was the largest outside Asia.

---

[TaxRelief]

Wrong. DU's disrupt because they despise us, others disrupt because things are too sensationalized, and full of eroneous informational analyses.