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U.S. virus experts slam SARS panic
Reuters - alertnet.org ^ | 28 Apr 2003 | Maggie Fox

Posted on 04/28/2003 3:12:22 PM PDT by CathyRyan

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To: harpseal
"actually seems to have a mortality rate of about 10% to 20%..."

What is the mortality rate when broken into age groups. I remember the ecoli death scare and every single victim was either over 70 or under two. It just made the rest of us have to sit on the toilet for a while.

I am wondering if the same is true here, at least to some degree.
21 posted on 04/28/2003 4:39:04 PM PDT by Not Insane
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To: CathyRyan
My own thoughts:
It's going to spread to every corner of the United States and will be worse than the 1917 flu epidemic. Millions of Americans will die from it. No it's hardly "The Stand". There is nothing anyone will be able to do about it. Just lie back, relax, read your Bible, pray a lot and get on about your lives.
22 posted on 04/28/2003 4:41:59 PM PDT by Rightwing Conspiratr1
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To: EternalHope
As far as people wearing masks go, SARS transmission outdoors would require someone to cough in your face, so the masks are not needed outdoors.

SARS apparently might also be transmitted through touching surfaces on which the virus has settled via sneeze droplets or touch by an infected person. These surfaces could include door knobs, benches, train straps, gas pumps, credit cards, shopping bags, elevator buttons, banisters, counter tops, etc. If the virus can live for 24 hours on such surfaces, the risk of such transmission is not minimal if SARS is rampant in the population around you.

If SARS becomes bad in my area, I'll wear a mask when I go out to prevent unconscious contact of my hands with my mouth and nose.

23 posted on 04/28/2003 4:48:54 PM PDT by rustbucket
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To: Rightwing Conspiratr1
My thoughts (they change daily) today:

We will beat this. Bio tech companies are probably chomping at the bit to get samples of the virus to work with. Innovation, creativity, brilliance, vision and, yes, greed will save the day.

I just am not sure how many will die in the meantime.

24 posted on 04/28/2003 4:53:30 PM PDT by riri
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To: EternalHope
Today's news in most places is very encouraging. Assuming the reported facts are correct (an assumption I don't like, but must accept), the disease can be contained. Sort of.

It's not being spread anymore in Viet Nam, so all the victims must have been isolated. Singapore's numbers have dropped dramatically, and might well match Toronto's very soon. Toronto is out of danger, unless you're a health care worker.

Hong Kong has made a lot of progress, and they may be getting control of it, too.

A big city, with modern medicine and strict health controls can contain this thing, with relatively few people inconvenienced or endangered.

A few new suspect and confirmed cases are popping up around the world, notably in India, but everyone is on watch for it. Those are very encouraging things.

China is a completely different matter, and if it weren't for them, this story would be rapidly beginning to fade from the front pages. They've allowed SARS to escape from the cities where they could handle it, and now it's almost certainly everywhere. Given the incubation period, we probably won't know for another week, and that's assuming we get accurate and timely information.

Without the level of healthcare in rural China that residents on the coast can get, it's likely to be a very serious problem.

The rural Chinese aren't too likely to get onto any planes flying into your hometown anytime soon, so even if it gets pretty bad there, it's probably not much immediate threat to us.

But they can bring it back into Hong Kong and Beijing and Shanghai at a later time, so even if a city can contain it today, it might come back from an outside source later.

25 posted on 04/28/2003 5:07:40 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: harpseal
No, you are not a stand person. :)
26 posted on 04/28/2003 5:16:57 PM PDT by CathyRyan
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To: Rightwing Conspiratr1
No, I do not see you as a stand person. :)
27 posted on 04/28/2003 5:18:10 PM PDT by CathyRyan
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To: CathyRyan
Well only one stand person post to this point. Oh well the night is young.
28 posted on 04/28/2003 5:23:07 PM PDT by CathyRyan
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To: CathyRyan; per loin; aristeides; blam; EternalHope; Judith Anne
Have you read this (from Promed today) yet?

Recovered SARS Patient Continues to Shed Virus in Stool --------------------------------------------------- An issue that has not been discussed anywhere in ProMED-mail in detail (perhaps because little is known about it) is that of continual viral shedding by clinically recovered SARS patients. A colleague of mine in Singapore, who has had the SARS illness and was diagnosed with the SARS coronavirus by RT-PCR culture and electron microscopy, has informed me that SARS coronavirus RNA has continued to be detected in stool samples by RT-PCR, although it has not yet been successfully grown in culture. This continued for sometime after the quarantine period of 10-14 [days?] after recovery from illness (up to 3 weeks post-recovery). If such is the case for most -- or even some -- of the recovered SARS patients, perhaps this may account for the ongoing transmission we are seeing in places like Singapore in household and workplace contacts of clinically recovered SARS patients. Perhaps the laboratories of the WHO collaborating network should ask for convalescent stool samples as well as sera to monitor and characterise this phenomenon.

29 posted on 04/28/2003 5:28:09 PM PDT by riri
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To: riri
The next section is of interest about that...

[The current RT-PCR tests utilize primers that amplify short sequences of the polymerase gene of the putative SARS coronavirus. These tests may do no more than detect the presence of defective virus in gut contents. The replication of many RNA viruses is accompanied by the progressive accumulation of defective interfering particles (the equivalent of deletion mutants), which are thought to be a determining factor in the self-limiting characteristics of some acute virus infections. The failure to isolate infectious virus from the patient after recovery suggests that transmission of SARS via gut contents post-recovery does not represent substantial risk. Nonetheless, it is not possible to discount this route of transmission of SARS virus without knowledge of the relative sensitivity of the cell culture employed, and Dr. Julian Tang has drawn attention to an important question. - Mod.CP]

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus/f?p=2400:1001:102727813954567900::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,21428

30 posted on 04/28/2003 5:34:06 PM PDT by CathyRyan
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To: CathyRyan
In America, SARS panic seems to run down three distinct paths. To wit:

"Billions will die from this mighty retribution. Kneel down and repent, sinners, for the hour of judgement is at hand. He shall come from a sweaty, unhygenic place, and know that his name be SARS!"

"This MUST be a bioweapon created by the NWO, and spread by black helicopters, to help cause a panic that will let the government start the gun grabs. I'll be in my Y2K shelter if you need me."

"Dude, it'll be just like, you know, The Stand. Won't that be freaky?!?All that death and stuff? I should buy a white mask and gloves, like, you know Micheal Jackson. Who knew he was right all this time, about the germs, and stuff?" </The Stand>

31 posted on 04/28/2003 5:35:50 PM PDT by Steel Wolf (Like water in a bucket.... calm but deadly...)
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To: riri
I did, and I don't know what to make of it. It's hard to believe that it's really true, or the illness would be spreading in cities where it's coming under control.

Maybe it's the number of viruses a person comes into contact with that makes the difference, and infection from recovered patients' stools is relatively low.

The interesting thing is that recovery isn't dependent on elimination of the virus. It has to be based upon sufficient antibodies being developed, or some other protective measure.

Or maybe the fact that these shed viruses haven't been successfully grown in culture yet is an indication that they've been somehow neutralized genetically. Just guessing here.

32 posted on 04/28/2003 5:38:45 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: riri
That's not good news (shedding of virus in stools).

Just a suggestion: When you are washing your hands in a public restroom, leave the water run until you have finished drying them with a paper towel, then turn off the faucet with the towel, and open the door with a towel.

If anyone still uses public restrooms...
33 posted on 04/28/2003 5:41:15 PM PDT by Judith Anne
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To: Judith Anne
The most frequently detected contaminant on public computer keyboards is human feces.
34 posted on 04/28/2003 5:45:14 PM PDT by blam
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To: Judith Anne
And if anyone here has a business with restrooms please place a trash can near the restroom doors so people can throw the paper towels away near the door. :)
35 posted on 04/28/2003 5:48:01 PM PDT by CathyRyan
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To: blam
No sh*it?

Seriously, I broke my addiction to FR for a whole month there but this stuff brings me back.

36 posted on 04/28/2003 5:48:38 PM PDT by txhurl
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To: blam
Oh, $#!+! I did not know that.

Luckily, the only computers I have access to is this one and the one at the nurses' station...
37 posted on 04/28/2003 5:49:22 PM PDT by Judith Anne
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To: CathyRyan
This article says what I've been saying all along. SARS will be here to stay but will be easily treatable.
38 posted on 04/28/2003 5:50:43 PM PDT by tuna_battle_slight_return
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To: tuna_battle_slight_return
Since when does the Intensive Care Unit fit into a description of "easily treatable"?
39 posted on 04/28/2003 5:59:07 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: Judith Anne; txflake
If you view a fingerprint under a SEM (scanning electron microscope), your ideas about cleanliness will be changed forever.
40 posted on 04/28/2003 6:07:26 PM PDT by blam
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