Sars

[KittyLynn]

[COLOR=deeppink]No Mitch I don't think it does. SARS is a new and improved way to kill people. ;)

Anyways, I think we are going a little over the top. People are just going crazy about this because its new. The flu kills many many people each year, SARS is just a new disease that people are careful about because they don't have a cure. Soon enough they will find one and it will be at the back of our heads as "nothing-ness" information.

Toodles,
Kitty[/COLOR]

[Dan L]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Medra [/i]
[B]Heh. I love doing that.[/B][/QUOTE]

I did notice what you said.. I just thought your first point was that bad it needed to be commented on ;p



but anyway..

here's an email I received through the university today:

[quote]To All Staff and Students

Most of you will be aware of the outbreak of SARS in Guangdong Province and now further afield.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) this week strongly advised UK public not to travel to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China or the Guangdong province of China.

In addition the Health Protection Agency has issued a Health Alert Notice for international travellers from the United Kingdom, going to or returning from the following areas:

Hong Kong Special Adminstrative Region, China
Guangdong Province, southern China
Hanoi, Vietnam
Singapore
Toronto, Canada
Taiwan, China
Beijing, China
Shanxi, China

Current information is available on the following websites

[url]http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/[/url]

[url]http://www.doh.gov.uk/sars/index.htm[/url]

[url]http://www.phls.org.uk/topics_az/SARS/menu.htm[/url]

The last site has the Health Alert Notice (HAN) which you are encouraged to read if you intend to travel. The HAN provides guidance on the symptoms of SARS.

You should also be aware that port health authorities in affected areas are likely to carry out health screening both on arrival and departure.



Clive Rosiek
Head of Occupational Health and Safety Unit
University Secretary's Office[/quote]

so essentially, people are being warned to be careful, if they are intending to travel to those areas.. if not, you have very little to worry about. Unless someone you know is, but heh..

[Cornucopia]

Latest stats from my newspaper on SARS say that cases and deaths reported so far include:

Australia ? 1
Canada ? 151 (6 dead)
China ? 1,190 (46 dead)
Hong Kong ? 708 (16 dead)
Taiwan ? 13
France ? 4
Germany ? 5
Italy ? 2
Ireland ? 2
Romania ? 3
Singapore ? 98 (4 dead)
Switzerland ? 3
Thailand ? 6 (2 dead)
UK ? 3
US ? 69
Vietnam ? 62 (4 dead)
Total ? 2,320 (78 dead)

So, in terms of numbers, SARS is nothing much (yet), especially compared to the Asian/Hong Kong flu in the 50s and 60s (4.5 million killed) or the Spanish flu in 1918 (50 million killed). But, this baby?s clocking up serious air miles.

[Guest cloricus]

Can we please put SARS in perspective?

About 90 people have now died, compared to the 50 odd that have died for the normal strains. The normal strain has infected over 3000 (reported) cases while SARS has only infected an approximate 2000 people. Each winter thousands of people died of the flu virus, this is just another one that?s out to get you.

It is [i]not[/i] classed as one of the new "super-bugs" basically because it is not a bacterium, it is a virus. If you hadn't noticed we don't have cures for [b]any[/b] virus, only vaccines. If you don?t understand the differences just ask and some one will explain them to you.

The "scary" things about this virus are as follows -
*It's methods of contamination are as yet unknown .
*It's new and as a result we don't have very effective medical responses to it, but we are catching up.
*There is no vaccine; this is still a fair way off. Though an Australian team think they have an accurate test for it.
*The people it kills aren't restricted to just elderly and sick, though the normal strains do kill healthy people too. Just not at the rate this one does.

The facts -
*It has, and will, as far as we know kill 3% of infected people.
*It is not a major threat to the world population, yet.
*It is a variant of the "flu" virus.
*It was discovered about two years ago, the man who discovered it died about a week ago of you guessed it, SARS.

Change I?m not sure what ?hippie crap? you were going on about there. This has nothing to do with the clearing of rain forests and over population of the planet. In fact over-population is an advantage for us in this situation. Out of six billion people a few of the people will have mutated gene?s that will be effective in fighting an outbreak. As for rain forests, this had nothing even remotely to do with them.
For what you say about HIV that is totally unproven.

Please don?t fall in to the media trap; it is being blown way out of proportion.
And no I?m not saying I?m not worried about it? I am, it is a dangerous virus, and it?s an unknown.

As for your school situation, it?s a safe precaution. At least until we find out how it spreads.

[Edited - Added]
Ops, there was a second page! Meh, any way that stat of 1 for Australia is unconfirmed.
[/Edited]

Eps ? Bio is fun..ish?

[James]

[color=#808080]I think the most sobering thought is simply that there is no cure. And that the virus is spread much more easily than first thought - much more easily than catching a cold.

But certainly, it can't be blown out of proportion. Hopefully it will be under control at some point.[/color]

[KittyLynn]

[COLOR=indigo][SIZE=1]I do to. Until then I will have to stay a metre apart and not breath around you. Toodles.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Rhys Mayiessen]

[color=skyblue]Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! SARS is everywhere in Toronto! I think 7 people have died here and at least 25 people have it. Now you see people walking around with masks on and even people at school are wearing them...I'm not too worried yet but we do have a lot of people that have it here now...I believe that it started in Asia then came over to Canada and now is moving to the US. Watch out!![/color]

[Pressure]

[color=purple][size=1]Wel.. this shows you how up to date on current world affairs I am..

I'd never even heard of SARS before this thread..

However, now that I have read through the entire thread.. The thing that is alarming me.. Is not the disease itself.. It's the reaction [i]to[/i] the disease the disease infection that many of you people are having..

"Unless it comes seriously close to home, don't worry about it"

Ther "I am safe because there aren't any cases near me" attitude is probably the most deadly way to approach this disease.. just because no one has reported it.. does NOT mean you are not at risk.. don't you think people travel.. well they travel.. toyour area.. without knowing they have it.. and it spreads..[/size][/color]

[Semjaza]

Isn't this thread about the same thing as that "Super Flu" thread a while back or am I missing something? I'm not clear on if they are different things or not.

[KittyLynn]

[COLOR=deeppink]No. The Super Flu thing is different. SARS, is a brand new way to kill and make people sick ;) Its brand new and killing people by the day.

Update: Another person died from it today in Canada.[/COLOR]

[Guest cloricus]

Pressure the amounts of people being killed by the original strain are as wide spread and deadly as this one, (sars) yet each winter when it kills thousands you don't even hear about it. It?s not even being reported on the news. You/people take this attitude because there are thousands of viruses floating around all the time that could kill you. At the moment you are more likely to die of so many other thinks that it's not worth worrying about.

Though limiting its spread is a very good measure.

Eps - Don't worry to much...