[Chemist_Geek]

"Basically, what we're saying is this is a hospital disease. It has been from the start and it continues to be. It doesn't do well in the community," he said.

I am so sick of seeing this ridiculous statement, I could scream. If this were true, the best way to end SARS would be to keep patients out of the hospital. Stay in the community.

Well, in a way - if people were well-separated and didn't interact, the disease would burn itself out. By bringing people into the hospital we concentrate the pathogen. The problem is, of course, all the other people there - staff, other patients, families - who may then acquire this (seemingly) airborne virus, then while it incubates go about their business and pass it on.

If there were to be a serious quarantine where there were no interaction, then, the spread might be checked long enough to get a vaccine developed.

The problem, of course, will be getting people to stay home and not go to work if they feel ill. It's bad enough with flu and colds.

[Judith Anne]

Good thoughts, except for those who are so sick they NEED to be in the hospital or else will die at home...

[Dog Gone]

There's no question that it spreads in hospitals. What I object to is the assertion that it doesn't spread well outside of hospitals.

It most certainly does, as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Beijing can attest. It hasn't done so in North America to any great extent because we are so aggressive about hospitalizing and quarantining.

[Dog Gone]

There's no question that it spreads in hospitals. What I object to is the assertion that it doesn't spread well outside of hospitals.

It most certainly does, as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Beijing can attest. It hasn't done so in North America to any great extent because we are so aggressive about hospitalizing and quarantining.