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I personally think this "disease" is way overblown in the media. Another one of those fears of the week. 53 dead in how many countries? Heck, ebola wipes out that many in some backwater African village in a few days.

I think so, too. Think about it--every year here in the USA we have normal flu outbreaks that kills hundreds of people per flu season and it doesn't get the attention that SARS is getting nowadays.

From what I read about the flu pandemic in 1918, that disease spread like wildfire due to the conditions of war (World War I) and also the fact back in 1918 personal hygiene was nowhere as good as it is today. Thanks to our modern medical knowledge, the spread of SARS is a lot less than it should have been despite the sensationalist reports from the Asian press.

Now, if SARS had suddenly killed several thousand people in a matter of days THEN we should have be concerned.

I think so, too. Think about it--every year here in the USA we have normal flu outbreaks that kills hundreds of people per flu season and it doesn't get the attention that SARS is getting nowadays

But ordinary flu has only a .1% mortality rate. Because it is widespread, quarantines are not feasible for flu outbreaks.

The 1918 Spanish flu had a 2.5% mortality rate. SARS has a 3.7% mortality rate but appears to be less transmissible than flu.

The part of the story that you might be missing is that SARS requires many days on a ventilator for most patients and that many of the survivors will have lung damage and permanent health problems. Look at the discharge numbers. Not that many people with this thing have left the hospital.

Just imagine if this spreads further. How many ventilator beds do we have in this country? The mortality rate of SARS could increase if our medical infrastructure is overwhelmed by patients and sick doctors and nurses.

Toronto, Hong Kong and Singapore's quarantines are long overdue. I don't think they acted quickly enough. Now that we have been warned, it would pay to not underestimate this virus.

"From what I read about the flu pandemic in 1918, that disease spread like wildfire due to the conditions of war"

Not from the conditions of war. World War I factored in because that was the first time so many people had been shipped all over the world, thus spreading the disease.

Today it is far worse. Air travel from Hong Kong to Toronto takes roughly 11 hours. We don't even need a war to be part of the factor now.