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

AP Health ^ | 03-20-03 | AP

[twntaipan]

Like, directly sneezed upon? Like, in the vapor produced by nebulizers in hospitals? Sure seems that if it were spread easily by airborne means that a much higher number of people would be sick by now, or, they have the incubation period wrong. Something doesn't add up.

[CathyRyan]

Press reports have referred to 2 suspected cases of SARS, one in an airline crew member and a second in a passenger, travelling on separate flights from Hong Kong and Taipei to Viet Nam. Both suspected cases have been investigated and are now ruled out as cases of SARS.

[Mother Abigail]

Thats good news

[JoeSchem]

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

And we think they're barbaric because they kill innocent people. We all have our prejudices, I guess.

[Mother Abigail]

Like, directly sneezed upon?

Something like that

[CathyRyan]

WHO is underscoring the need for continued vigilance. Experience with other
emerging diseases makes it clear that, should the causative agent turn out
to be a virus, the new disease could establish endemicity, especially in
light of abundantly documented human-to-human transmission. The world must
protect itself against the widespread establishment of another new
infectious disease.

WHO's concern is now increasingly focused on preparation to assist
vulnerable countries in the likely event that cases continue to spread. Up
to now, all imported cases have occurred in countries well equipped and
well prepared to institute WHO-recommended precautions, including isolation
and barrier nursing practices, for preventing spread to others, whether
health care workers or family members. In view of the rapid spread of this
disease to new countries via exposed air travellers, any country with an
international airport is potentially at risk.

This focus on preparedness underscores the need for a concerted effort to
defend global public health security. In an era of close interconnectedness
and rapid air travel, an outbreak anywhere in the world is a potential
threat to health everywhere.

International collaboration -­ on the part of the medical and research
communities, multinational teams in the field, and health authorities
around the world ­- in the reporting, investigation, and management of this
outbreak has been outstanding.

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus/f?p=2400:1001:162694929991895498::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,21028

[Domestic Church]

Does the case in Tenn. have a Hong Kong/Asia link?

[CathyRyan]

I spent a good deal of time today looking and I can not even find out where in Tennessee it is. It may just be that my search skills suck.

[Domestic Church]

"as I just got over acute bronchitis and pleurisy not that long ago. It's enough to make one want to wear a hospital mask"

You've got good reason to wear one if it makes you feel better.

[Domestic Church]

Uncanny how the 11 cases are spread out.

[Mother Abigail]

Early random distribution,


Look now for the cases to begin to accumulate on the West Coast

See post #39

[Domestic Church]

Exactly! It's so perfect it's uncanny.

[frontdeboeuf]

Between 1339 and 1351 AD, a pandemic of plague traveled from China to Europe, known in Western history as The Black Death. Carried by rats and fleas along the Silk Road Caravan routes and Spice trading sea routes, the Black Death reached the Mediterranean Basin in 1347, and was rapidly carried throughout Europe from what was then the center of European trade. Eventually, even areas of European settlement as isolated as Viking settlements in Greenland would be ravaged by the plague. By the time these plagues had run their course in 1351, between 25 and 50% of the population of Europe was dead. An equally high toll was exacted from the populations of Arabia, North Africa, South Asia, and East Asia.


Septicaemic plague is, like the bubonic plague, carried by insects. Its distinguishing feature is its rapidity - death occurs within a day of infection, even before buboes have had time to form. This form of the plague is the rarest rare, but is almost always fatal (4).


Pneumonic plague differs from the other two forms in that it can be spread from person to person. After a two to three day incubation period, victims suffer a sharp drop in body temperature, which is followed by sever coughing and discharge of a bloody sputum. This sputum contains the plague bacteria, making for an airborne transmission. As in bubonic plague, neurological and psychological disorders follow. Pneumonic plague is rarer than bubonic, but is fatal in over 95% of its victims (5).

[Mother Abigail]

Asian Medics Stay Home, Imperiling Respiratory Patients

By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN

The care of many patients with a mysterious respiratory illness is being seriously jeopardized because nurses and other health care workers are staying away from their jobs out of fear of getting sick themselves, officials at the World Health Organization said yesterday.

Some hospitals in Vietnam and Hong Kong are working with half the usual staff, raising fears that inadequate care will contribute to further spread of the disease, the officials said.

There is pandemonium at some hospitals where workers are staying home, said a doctor familiar with the situation who did not want to be identified.

[k omalley]

An ordinary hospital mask is probably useless against such a virus. An N95 mask will probably offer more protection.

[Domestic Church]

I recall someone recently came upon this pneumonic plague in some outback shed of Siberia.

[Domestic Church]

Okay, what company makes the best?(Not that I have any moola to invest these days.)

[theFIRMbss]

>Look now for the cases to begin to accumulate on the West Coast

Gee. This weekend, all
show biz will be in one room
showing off themselves...

They'll be shaking hands,
kissing each other, maybe
more after the show...

Would the country weep
if all the show biz big-wigs
became ground zero?!

[Justa]

Make a hand-held air sanitizer. Moisten a washcloth with 80-20 water/chlorine mix. Keep it in a ziploc bag and in your purse/pocket when you travel. If you get stuck in an elevator or other confined space with someone coughing cover your mouth with it and breath through it.

[k omalley]

The masks my hospital uses are made by 3M. They are the same masks that are used when caring for TB patients.