Every breath you take [SARS]

The Sydney Morning Herald ^ | April 5 2003

[Lessismore]

Who dies, and how?

Adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) affects about 10 per cent of SARS patients and is the means of death in those one in about 30 SARS patients for whom the condition is fatal.

The terrible, progressive lung meltdown usually occurs only when the body is in massive shock from some other cause, says Jonathan Burdon, the president of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand. Injuries from road accidents can cause it, Burdon says, as can inhaling noxious fumes. It can also occur when the body is overwhelmed with septicaemia or meningitis.

The lung gradually inflames and its blood vessels collapse. Beyond a certain point, a tube in the windpipe and mechanical ventilation become necessary - sometimes for many weeks. But in a high proportion of cases - the American Lung Association puts it at 40 per cent - the lung tissue is so devastated that the body becomes starved of oxygen and the patient dies. In many others, serious permanent lung damage occurs.

So far, 79 people are known to have died of SARS since the epidemic first became apparent in southern China five months ago. Another 2191 have been assessed as having suffered from it, some of them relatively mildly.

In a grain of brighter news, an early perception that this bug was targeting mainly young, otherwise healthy people now appears not to be so. Latest communiques suggest many of the fatalities were people with other illnesses. Children develop SARS relatively rarely.

[Lessismore]

Excepted from an excellent, if older, article.

[Support Free Republic]

God bless our troops. Come home safe, and soon.

[buffyt]

I read that it is a bio terror, lab created virus, that combined two previous viruses, mumps and measles, that escaped from the lab in China.... anyone else hear that?

[buffyt]

I also heard that recovering from it doesn't mean you are immune to it in the future, that part is unknown, since it may be a new lab-created bug.

[Jakarta ex-pat]

LATEST...

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd was considering on Saturday the complete grounding of its passenger services next month as fear of the deadly SARS virus kept its planes largely empty.

Here in Indonesia, we have our first "official" case.

I really believed this would be contained, but now i'm not so sure.

[Lessismore]

I think the "mumps and measles" theory arose previously when it was thought that SARS was due to a paramyxovirus.

[demosthenes the elder]

that bit of speculation came from a russian who has not looked at the bug under a scope. relax.

[Billy_bob_bob]

The SARS bug didn't escape from a bioweapons lab in China, because for all intents and purposes China IS a bioweapons lab. It has to do with their appalling sanitation practices, and the traditional behavior of their immense peasant population.

China can build rockets to go to the moon, but can't seem to get on top of sewers and septic tank technology. We ship our industry over there, they ship newer and better diseases to us. Such a deal!

[Domestic Church]

The paramyxovirus, among other microbes, is suspected of being symbiotic. This infection is often a duet.

[Walkingfeather]

Sorry everything I have read says it could not just bump into each other like a reeses peanut butter cup. This was manufactured. The first Dr. that checked himself in was a Molecular biologist ( I beleive) and stated that he was infected by a virus..... ( like he knew what was happening)

[Domestic Church]

I agree. There is no doubt in my mind. When this first broke, the Aussies and several countries near China stated that they considered this to be biowarfare. I've read or heard biowarfare from docs and directors of research/development. The public spin here(I expect to keep panic down and profits up) is more pc than anything else.