Sars virus 'mutating rapidly'

BBC News ^ | April 22, 2003

[PJ-Comix]

Didn't Dustin Hoffman already star in this movie?

[riri]

Natural selection means that "mistakes" that end up benefiting the virus will lead to the creation of strains that are more virulent, or more easily transmitted from human to human

How much easier can it get to transmit? It lives on surfaces for 24 hours, spreads via respiratory droplets. Is it going to grow legs and walk over to it's victims?

[Dog Gone]

Scientists believe that the current strain is transmitted through droplets coughed out of the lungs, but are still not certain about other possible routes of transmission.

That's not true, though. The entire floor of the Hong Kong apartment building is believed to have contracted it through sewage, not coughing.

[PJ-Comix]

Is SARS the Son of the Andromeda Strain?

[sharktrager]

Normally I am not paranoid, but this seems to me ike a bio weapon that has either gotten out of control, or is intentionally being released.

We have a disease that kills, spreads easily and mutates quickly. It starts in the one country we can be sure would have no problems sacrificing it's own people to start a pandemic, and which should have the technology and resources needed for the research.

[11B3]

Is SARS the Son of the Andromeda Strain?

Yeah, crossed with The Stand.

[edwin hubble]

"Is SARS the Son of the Andromeda Strain? "

You beat me to it... Andromeda Strain was a fascinating medical-mystery.

Fast moving... gripping.
Probably Michael Crichton's best.

[PJ-Comix]

Yeah, crossed with The Stand.

Las Vegas, here I come!

[PJ-Comix]

Probably Michael Crichton's best.

I think also his first.

[Huber]

Doesn't the flu virus also mutate quickly? That is why annual flu shots are needed. This would probably be no different.

BTW- Transmission is probably not by droplets, but by hand to nose and eye contact. Coronavirus is excreted in the stool. A person with poor personal hygiene can do a lot of damage.

[PJ-Comix]

A person with poor personal hygiene can do a lot of damage.

Better quarantine Stuttering John!!!

[Grut]

SARS scares the willie out of me but something here doesn't compute; with all these transmissibility features, SARS has infected only about 1400 people in Hong Kong (seven million people, packed in cheek-to-jowl) in six weeks or so. It seems like there should be more cases if it can spread so easily.

[thoughtomator]

Yeah... when I hear about SARS, how fatal it is, and how it is remarkably easily transmitted... then only 4000 possible cases worldwide and only 200 deaths... I start to wonder if this is a real danger or some sort of global hypochondria.

[edwin hubble]

"Probably Michael Crichton's best.
I think also his first. "

Yes, it was. He set the bar very high first time.

[First Amendment]

then only 4000 possible cases worldwide and only 200 deaths

This is essentially leaving out mainland China's numbers, since they change every day.... They have now admitted roughly a 600 increase in Beijing in the last couple days (roughly - different articles say different numbers) but very few deaths compared to the HK numbers. Without knowing China's real numbers all speculations could be way, way off.

[demosthenes the elder]

A person with poor personal hygiene can do a lot of damage.

well, I guess that settles it: Leftists are now most certainly an "endangered species"

[Lady Heron]

You need to look at the number of those who have gotten well compaired to the number of people who have died, not the number total who have gotten SARS combaired to those who have died, leaving out the suspect Chinese numbers. That is if you want a good scare.

[FreepForever]

The 1,400 cases in Hong Kong seems like a small figure but you should also look at the rate of increase and the (very drastic) measures being taken.

60-70% of the population wear a face mask. Some with disposable gloves too.

Lifts buttons are covered with a plastic sheet which is changed every 2 to 3 hours. All public places are fumigated daily.

An entire housing complex is cordoned off with residents sent into quarantine.

Strictly no family visting in hospitals. Patient cannot see their family before they die.

All schools suspended (3 weeks). Some even longer in infected areas. All students must pass temperature check and step on disinfectant soaked carpet before entering school. Hand wash every hour. Strict all day face mask rule. Vitamin C for every student. No school lunch in canteen. Teacher supervised lunch in classroom only (strictly no talking). No physical with other student.

Temperature check at airport. One passenger found sick, entire plane quarantine.

All shops, banks, offices, schools will be closed immediately if one case is found among the staff. Entire team of staff will be sent into quarantine.

Now, tell me, do all these compute to you?

[FreepForever]

Even if every health officials in China comes squeaky clean and report all known SARS cases honestly as it is, the final figure still doesn’t reflect any truth of the situation.

There are tens of thousands of small counties and villages in rural China that have no hospitals, just a dismal clinic. People can catch the decease -- go to the village’s barefoot doctor -- get some herbal medicine -- go home and get his family and neighbors infected -- struggle to stay alive -- failed and go to see Carl Marx -- buried and forgotten. This entire process, which keeps repeating itself and spread like wild fire, is happening outside the government’s existing medical system. No control, no statistics.

Due to the inherent deficiency of China’s medical system and infrastructure, which is too primitive to cope with this kind of epidermic, my conclusion is: WE WILL NEVER KNOW THE TRUTH.

I have been keeping track of the figures but lately, I have given up. Under the existing system, the numbers are meaningless. Since China is the biggest contributor to the world total number of cases, this deficiency is also rendering the world figures meaningless.

[jeremiah]

I suppose we need to quarantine of all peoples coming from HK, and China. Why allow them access to the west, if they are so darned contagious?