SARS: Get it right next time

Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, April 22, 2003 | Gwynne Dyer

[JohnHuang2]

The virus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was identified on April 15 in a 10-country collaboration between 13 laboratories as a corona virus related to those that cause the common cold.

"Now we can move away from methods like isolation and quarantine and move aggressively toward modern intervention strategies including specific treatments and eventually vaccination," said David Heymann, executive director of the World Health Organization's communicable diseases programs.

[JohnHuang2]

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Quote of the Day by Texas Eagle

[WoofDog123]

"Now we can move away from methods like isolation and quarantine and move aggressively toward modern intervention strategies including specific treatments and eventually vaccination," said David Heymann, executive director of the World Health Organization's communicable diseases programs.
"

This strange person is apparently implying that incurable virii should not be treated by containment, but rather by WHAT unclear, vague method??? Presumably he lists the viral illnesses previously treated by vaccination?

[konaice]

""Now we can move away from methods like isolation and quarantine and move aggressively toward modern intervention strategies including specific treatments and eventually vaccination,"
---
Say What?????

If modern medicine has as good a success ratio as it has had with the common cold, we are all doomed....

[WoofDog123]

"Fortunately, China has finally taken steps to end the cover-up. Health Minister Zhang Wenkang and Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong were removed from their Communist Party posts Sunday after being accused of systematically understating the number of those infected with SARS. The government also reported a ten-fold increase in the number of infections in Beijing, suggesting that earlier figures had been falsified."

Blah Blah Blah, why does this author think this despotic government has ANY idea of how many of its billion citizens have been exposed? Why does he give jiang big brother the credibility of assuming they know? Since when does Government know anything for certain besides its daily revenues?

Notably, what do either of these beauracratic posts have to do with management of the disease spread in Canton prior to the current world-wide interest?

[WoofDog123]

"No considerations of Chinese pride or special political circumstances can excuse this kind of behavior, which exposes the whole world to risk. "

Continuing my rant against the odd person who apparently put their name on this article, I am wondering what political and cultural sensitivities I am lacking that make me unable to understand under what circumstances it might have been understandable for Chinese pride or "special political circumstances" to have excused this 'behavior?'

Is 'special political circumstances' like TWA 800, where a presidencial election is imminent?

[WoofDog123]

"Say What?????

If modern medicine has as good a success ratio as it has had with the common cold, we are all doomed....
"

i was hoping posters would catch onto the wildly successful history of the strategem described in this article..

[WoofDog123]

"Continuing my rant against the odd person who apparently put their name on this article, I am wondering what political and cultural sensitivities I am lacking that make me unable to understand under what circumstances it might have been understandable for Chinese pride or "special political circumstances" to have excused this 'behavior?' "

correction: If this is a product of a chinese bioweapon program (as some un-corroborated posts have stated), their behavior under these circumstances would seem to be the norm for any gov't, and maybe even a little soft for an eastern dictatorship. At least it ain't no Captain Trips.

[WoofDog123]

"Now we can move away from methods like isolation and quarantine and move aggressively toward modern intervention strategies including specific treatments and eventually vaccination"

In suspended disbelief mode, it is like listening to a liberal spin for crime reduction, root-causes elimination, etc. Science apparently does not enter into it, even on scientific issues like 'curing' virii.

[konaice]

"If this is a product of a chinese bioweapon program (as some un-corroborated posts have stated)"

Thats my pet theory too...
But I will be the first to admit that the chinese official reaction (denial and obstruction) is the principal source of my suspicion.

[WoofDog123]

"But I will be the first to admit that the chinese official reaction (denial and obstruction) is the principal source of my suspicion"

I agree, with the caveat that them totaltarian folks deny and obstruct stuff like weather and sunset times if they can.

[TheLion]

Texas Eagle's comment would have been a wonderful retort to Tim Robbins.

Somehow, I think we might have felt a little easier if this bug had been called "China Flu" or somesuch. We could have thought of it more in the vein of "Asian Flu". The word SARS just seems more deadly....just a thought.