President of the American Society of Microbiology on SARS - "Everything says it is airborne."

AP Health ^ | 03-20-03 | AP

[cmsgop]

Lovely! NOT!!!!!!

[KSCITYBOY]

How easily does this thing spread? Is this a 1914 flu type thing?

[CathyRyan]

But if it is airborne; Why are not more people sick? I don't get it. Can anyone explain this?

[Mother Abigail]

It is not spreading like flu - slower.

It may be that you have to be in close proximity to the infected person.

[Mother Abigail]

I believe that it is necessary to be in the immediate area of the person to become infected.

Elevator lobby, airline ticket line, etc..

But contact may not be necessary

[CathyRyan]

But would you not still see larger numbers?

[Mother Abigail]

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A CHRONOLOGICAL COMPILATION OF THE "SARS" OUTBREAK AS REPORTED ON FREE REPUBLIC

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1. Precognition

2. Hong Kong Health Secretary calls for calm as SARS cases double, (83 up from 42 on Sunday)

3. LATEST SARS UPDATE - DETAILED MEDICAL INFORMATION

4. BREAKING BIG: POSSIBLE PATHOGEN DETECTED IN SARS CASE

5. Killer Virus (SARS) Identified

6. Seven victims of mystery pneumonia stayed on same floor of Hong Kong hotel

7. Guangdong doctor linked to SARS outbreak

[Mother Abigail]

The number of infected, sick enough to pass on the virus is (at this time) a small set.

Because we have been so aggressive in locating and isolating these few individuals (with the exception of Hong Kong), we have limited the spread.

Hong Kong is the key. How "out of the box" is this bug?

[CathyRyan]

I guess all we can do is wait. Did I mention I hate to wait? ;)

[aristeides]

Washington Times article today confirms none of the staff at the Metropole Hotel were infected.

[anniegetyourgun]

I must get on a plane shortly.....this is spooky stuff.

[xm177e2]

Hopefully the war in Iraq will cause people to travel less, especially to and from America, limiting our exposure to this disease.

[Cicero]

Maybe it's time that the Chinese stopped living in such close proximity to their pigs and ducks. That's been where flu breeds every year and it's probably where SARS was bred.

[tracer]

"Bring us your tired, your weary, your infected".....

[Mother Abigail]

Reinforces the close proximity hypothesis.

[Mother Abigail]

Sounds right

[aristeides]

Moslems think we Westerners are barbaric because we keep our dogs in our homes.

[Mother Abigail]

The traffic between the left coast and Asia is significant and remains our achilles heel

[Mother Abigail]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. March 20 —

As many as 15 workers at an Albuquerque hospital been given two days off work to avoid the possible spread of a mysterious respiratory disease brought in by a patient, officials said Thursday.

The workers, mainly in the hospital's emergency and radiology departments, had contact with the patient before they suspected he had the illness called severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

The patient remained in fair condition Thursday at Presbyterian Hospital, said spokesman Todd Sandman. He had recently returned from Hong Kong, which has been hard-hit by the flu-like disease, which has spread from Asia.