BREAKING BIG: POSSIBLE PATHOGEN DETECTED IN SARS CASE

PROMED ^ | 03-18-03

[Mother Abigail]

Paramyxovirus-like particles identified by electron microscopy

Numerous tests have been performed on the 3 patients admitted on Saturday 15 March to the Isolation Unit at Frankfurt am Main with suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Tests from respiratory specimens for influenza A and B virus, respiratory syncytial virus, enteroviruses, _Mycoplasma pneumoniae_ and _Chlamydia_ spp. by antigen enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were all negative; antibody tests for dengue, influenza A and B, measles, hantaviruses, _Mycoplasma pneumoniae_ and _Chlamydia_ spp. were likewise negative or unremarkable so far; further test results are pending.

Particles morphologically resembling paramyxoviruses were seen in respiratory specimens (throat swab and sputum) obtained from the index patient, a doctor from Singapore, by the teams in Marburg and in Frankfurt am Main.

It remains to be seen whether this finding can be confirmed -- tests including low-stringency paramyxovirus PCR and tissue culture are currently under way in Hamburg, in Marburg and in Frankfurt am Main. It needs to be emphasised that at this time these preliminary results only indicate a suspicion. Furthermore, even if the presence of a paramyxovirus was confirmed, it is not clear at this stage whether this might represent the causal agent of SARS or rather a coincidental finding.

[AAABEST]

Dude, that is truly freaking weird!

[11B3]

The 350 reported cases in China would point to that being initial field testing on humans - they have a highly controlled society where they would be certain to contain it even if it were released on the "public".

If it is indeed man-made for weapons use, it seems as though they could have come up with something far more infectious as well as having a higher lethality. That would say it is a natural shift as you suggested. Right?

[Mother Abigail]

I believe isolation is near, but a vaccine would be very long odds.

[Greek]

What does Helen Thomas have to do with this?

[AAABEST]

M'am.

Would you mind if I asked if it's pure coincidence that your screen name is Mother Abigail (a main character in Steven King's "The Stand") and you're posting a thread that suggests the possibility of a deadly rampant virus?

I'm not breaking out any tinfoil I'm just curious. You must admit that it's quite a coincidence.

[vetvetdoug]

This virus has the pathogenicity and symptoms of the Hendra Virus. Last month I attended a seminar about Foreign Animal Diseases taught by a former researcher at Plum Island and she taught the Hendra virus' effects upon horses, cats and humans in depth. The virus is respiratory in transmission and lethal within hours after the host contracts the disease. What was unique about this virus is that it was transmitted from horses to man, man to horses, man to cats and vice versa. The virus is endemic in 80% of all fruit bats tested (which means I breathe easy when I go to a zoo with fruit bats; they don't test for this). If this is a paramyxovirus and similar to the Hendra, it will be interesting to find out if the virus has a natural reservoir or is a mutant that is a brand new virus.

I just love infectious diseases and virology, it is so exciting and interesting to see a new disease emerge and get diagnosed and characterized.

[Mother Abigail]

Experts believe that the most likely explanation for the respiratory illness is an exotic virus or — the most feared scenario — a new form of influenza.

However, WHO's communicable diseases chief, Dr. David Heymann, said the illness doesn't seem to spread as quickly a flu.

"It isn't contagious at the level of many other infectious diseases," he said. "A normal influenza would be very contagious to people sitting in the same room."

So far, experts say there is no evidence the infection spreads by casual contact, such as sitting next to somebody in an airplane.
"There should not be panic. This is a disease which, it seems, requires very close contact with patients and it is mainly hospital workers who have been infected in the first wave of infections. Now we are seeing that some other family members have been infected," Heymann said.

CDC head Julie Gerberding said she doubts the flu virus is responsible, since Hong Kong labs, which are very good at diagnosing influenza, have not been able to identify it.

The incubation period for SARS appears to be three to seven days.
It often begins with a high fever and other flu-like symptoms, such as headache and sore throat. Victims typically develop coughs, pneumonia, shortness of breath and other breathing difficulties. Death results from respiratory failure.

[cricket]

I am wondering from these reports, if whatever constellation of viruses appears; if they are suspecting that this syndrome has been genetically combined in a laboratory environment or are they finding a 'natural evolutional' trail. . .

???

[swarthyguy]

At least she didn't choose Typhoid Mary. Assuming a woman

[Mother Abigail]

You come see me child, and bring all your nice friends

[hocndoc]

)beron: No, you get chlamydia from a chlam.

BJC: Oh, you just had to mussel in with that joke.

I tick the original post was about an arthropod. Fleas stay on topic.

[Eastbound]

"So how do they know for sure it's viral/bacterial and not fungal?"

Coccidiomycosis????? Hmmm! Good question. Symptoms and undiagnosability fits.

[Mother Abigail]

I like it when you talk that way...

Congratulations on your spot on pick of the pathogen

[vetvetdoug]

What does Helen Thomas have to do with this?

Why, the answer is obvious, many of the paramyxoviruse are zoonotic and can be transmitted from horses to man or vice versa. Helen is a likely harbinger since horses in many cases are more suseptible than man.

[AAABEST]

LOL.

OK you win. You are the strangest person I've ever met on this forum. I've been here a while too.

Lmao.

[texson66]

For an update on case numbers: WHO SARS DATA

[null and void]

It's a joke!

Don't get crabby....

[Oberon]

Oberon: No, you get chlamydia from a chlam.

BJC: Oh, you just had to mussel in with that joke.

hocndoc: I tick the original post was about an arthropod. Fleas stay on topic.

Feeling crabby, are we? Perhaps we'd get along better if we all weren't so shellfish.

[Wyatt's Torch]

Isn't Mother Abigail the name of the character in the Stephen King super-flu novel, The Stand?

If so, that's a REALLY creepy coincidence

Also creepy that I was about to post the exact same thing. I don't want to move to Nebraska...of course, I really don't want to move to Vegas...;-)

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

China is the source for flu each year because the farmers live with pigs in their homes. Sanitation is not what it is here, apparently.