Posted on 04/08/2003 12:14:13 AM PDT by twntaipan
At the same time, Dr. Lin Jui-hsiung, the head of the National Taiwan University Institute of Epidemiology, said that SARS did not appear to be easily spread and that there was no need for people to wear surgical masks.
Lin claims that his hypothesis could help explain why some people seem to have come down with SARS for no explainable reason.
To begin with, SARS appears to be highly contagious only during advanced stages of the disease when the patient is having trouble breathing, Lin said.
At that point, Lin said, there is a large amount of the coronavirus thought to cause the disease present in the body.
It is also during this time when the virus, for a reason as yet unknown, becomes more virile.
During this stage of the disease, the virus can be transmitted over short distances via spittle emitted during coughing fits, Lin said.
However, according to Lin, some of the people who are coming down with SARS did not come into contact with anyone in the late stages of the disease while travelling in mainland China.
Lin suggested that the solution to this puzzle could lie in the fact that the disease can be sexually transmitted.
On this view, the coronavirus causing SARS would be present in vaginal secretions of women who have yet to reach more advanced stages of the disease and could be passed on by way of vaginal intercourse.
Lin went on to explain that it would be unlikely that the disease could be contracted as a result of having sex with a male carrier.
Deputy Minister of Health Lee Lung-teng said he found the hypothesis to be feasible.
Still, he warned that the suggestion is still nothing more than a hypothesis and would need to be proven through further research.
Lee explained that on this view, the SARS virus would thrive in mucous membrane cells such as those in the oral cavity, intestines, or even the vagina.
Earlier reports from Hong Kong have suggested that the coronavirus associated with SARS has indeed been found in patients' feces, giving rise to fears that the disease could be spread through the sewage system.
Something in those cells, he said, would then strengthen the virus, making it more viral and easier to be spread, Lee speculated.
Lin said that his hypothesis was well received by doctors and health officials that he met with during a recent trip to Hong Kong.
One doctor who has treated between two and three hundred SARS patients in the former British colony said that he couldn't think of one single case that would disprove the notion that the disease could be transmitted through the sex act, Lin said.
Lin went on to say that given the possibility of transmission through sexual activity, anyone travelling to mainland China or anywhere else where the disease is prevalent, should "take care of themselves."
Still, with the Amoy Garden outbreak in Hong Kong, that kind of transmission would make sense.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.