I was just watching a report on the extent of the SARS outbreak in the city. . . Hope anyone 'here' who's there is OK.
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
...and if any of you do have SARS, please remember to take the time to tell us before you get any medical treatment.
Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
True to its nature, the WHO is about psyched up for a pandemic now.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
Good news for agorophobes.
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
Funny thing is, I live down the street from the hospital where the first infections occurred. I've had a nasty cough for about three weeks now, but temp is fine and I have no trouble breathing.
I don't like the idea of the WHO and the CDC saying that Toronto is a hotbed of infection. Every case so far can be traced back to the original infection. The problem is, people are breaking orders for quarantines because they have to work and have no financial redress from their employers or their governments. And some people are just plain idiots even when they know they are at risk for infection.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Well, some fucking moronic doctor decided to fly back to Baltimore, even though he was exhibiting some of the symptoms. Twat. Oh well, he's spending the next two-weeks in a pressure room at Johns Hopkins.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Kick-ASS.
This announcement makes moving back to Mississauga from the relative safety of Waterloo, so much more fun. If I get SARS in the next four months (working in Toronto for this co-op term). I'm sure you people will be among the first ten thousand people to find out
*cough*
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
I get a lot of people from Toronto, well, Canada in general, here where I work, and it has cuased me some thought. I am thinking about telling my boss I need a pay raise for hazardous duty. If I ask for a mask he'll by cheaply made cheese clothe and call it good.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
I like the way the British Government is refusing to test people coming off planes from Toronto, saying it should be the responsibility of the authorities at the point of origin. Or, in other words, "we can't be bothered."
But think about it - what's the incubation period for the bug, the amount of time before symptoms appear? Because if it's more than about 7-8 hours, a rough guesstimate of the flight time from Toronto to Heathrow, surely letting an infected person into an enclosed tube with several hundred other people all breathing the same air (I know they haven't positively identifed the bug as airborne-transmitted, but it's still a viable hypothesis at this point) who aren't going to be showing any signs of increased tmperature when they arrive should they be infected in-flight. . . It just seems a bit daft to me.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
They could still probably find it in the bloodstream, dorment or not.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Well, yes, but the point is they're mainly watching for the bug by taking people's temperatures.
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
Incubation period is within ten days. This is why health officials are enforcing a ten-day quarantine.
It appears the WHO has it all wrong. There has never been an epidemic increase of SARS cases in Toronto. Slowly but surely, due to diligence in our hospitals, the number affected is slowly decreasing.
If anything, any travel advisory should be directed at China. The thing is, China actually COVERED UP the SARS outbreak (revealing only half its cases), whereas we reported it openly.
Total toll right now: 16 dead, 261 affected. In a metropolis of 3.5 million. All 16 dead are linked to the original cluster, and had pre-existing medical conditions.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
What's the total toll internationally?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Surprisingly, there hasn't been a single case of SARS in SJ yet. I say surprisingly because SJ has a resident population of a few thousand Asian students, a large amount of them from China. They frequently travel to and from China throughout the school year. They've been keeping a close eye on them at the uni, I think.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
"Outbreak" in Toronto! Kewl! At long last, an excuse!
Release TROGDOR!
Burninate the village.... burninate the peasants...
Posted by Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
He comes in night, and all that.
Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :
From what I've read, SARS death rate is about 4%. How does this compare to the Flu? I am planning a trip to a convention in Toronto in May, but I am not worried. Good thing SARS is a contact virus, and not airborne like the flu.
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
Give me a call, Jeff. I'll be sure to thoroughly cough on you. Want a nice wet one on the cheek too?
Hey, you can't go home without a souvenir, right? Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
I thought they said it could be airborne. And the mortality was upped to 5.3 last night.
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
I'm not real worried about SARS yet. I don't know if I should be or not, so I'm just trying not to think about it. There havn't been any reported cases in Saskatchewan since the last time I really checked, which was a week ago.
the mortality rate is 5.3%, is that low compared to other illnesses out there like regular pnuemonia, and the flu bug?
Posted by Toadkiller (Member # 425) on :
It is higher than regular old "flu" - but an order lower than the scourges of old like smallpox and the plague which had at least a 30% death rate.
A factor in this pandemic is that the "low" death rate reflects decent medical care which is out of the reach of millions. Also, the idea that it might be around for years....
TK Public Health dude Keflavik, Iceland
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Jeff: Don't bring your computer this time. Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Well it continues to spread, at least they fired that chinese minister who were covering up the numbers of victims. Also, the mortality rate is now officially at 7%, it's rising too fast.
On another note, in the severe acute respiratory syndrome, I think the "severe"-part is a bit redundant, its meaning is fully well covered with "acute", so I think they should discard that word.
Moreover, since it's now reaching catastrophe-levels, the word "epidemic" should be added after "syndrome".
[ April 27, 2003, 07:19 AM: Message edited by: Nim ]
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
ARE? or AcRE?
I thought SARS was a bit much also.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Well, from the newspaper it seems that "acute" refers to the speed at which the disease progresses and "severe" refers to, well the severity of the diease. As in AIDS is a severe disease, but definitely not acute. On the other hand, a simple cold would be very acute but not severe.
Posted by Phoenix (Member # 966) on :
quote:Originally posted by Ritten: ARE? or AcRE?
I thought SARS was a bit much also.
Why have ARE or AcRE when you can have ARSE? Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Since this appears to be our official SARS thread, I thought I'd share this link: http://www.d2ol.com/SARS.html , which purports to be a distributed computing project ala SETI@Home dedicated to finding good medicines, or something like that. I found the link via Boing Boing, but the site isn't loading, and on closer inspection the news originated at Slashdot, so maybe try it again in a few days.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Yes, after the first of the month, if it is suffering from the MMSDS. MM SlashDot Syndrom....
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
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