[cebadams]

Good post, thanks.

SARs status:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/879800/posts
SARS disease can spread not only from cough and sneeze droplets, but through the air the way influenza spreads.
The SARS outbreak was carried to Toronto by a person who had taken a business trip to Hong Kong and died of the SARS disease on March 5.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/880329/posts
Toronto (March 30, 2003) - Dr. Donald Low, a member of the SARS containment team, said the evidence from the mounting number of cases in Canada suggests most people develop symptoms within four to five days of infection, so the 10-day period is probably safe. "The longest possible incubation period that we've seen is 14 days," (WHO) spokesman Dick Thompson said Sunday in an interview from Geneva.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/879955/posts
TORONTO (March 30, 2003) -- The Ontario government will use police if necessary to restrict access to Toronto hospitals as part of new measures announced yesterday to try to contain an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
The WHO also announced yesterday that Dr. Carlo Urbani, who worked as a public health officer in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, had died of of the disease . Dr. Urbani was the first WHO officer to identify the outbreak of the illness, in a U.S. businessman who was hospitalized in Hanoi.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/880264/posts
The Canadian province of Ontario has 100 possible cases of the illness -- the highest caseload outside Asia.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/880292/posts
Hong Kong - Director of Health, Dr Margaret Chan, has ordered Block E of Amoy Garden in Ngau Tau Kok, Kowloon Bay, to be isolated for a period of 10 days starting from 6 am this morning (March 31) to prevent the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (commonly known as atypical pneumonia), a Government spokesman said. The decision was taken because of the continued steep rise in the number of cases of infection in the building in the past few days.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/880264/posts?page=10#10
CDC (March 30, 2003) - Sars, which has affected some 1,600 people worldwide, appears to spread more easily than was first thought, according to the CDC.


Frequently Asked Questions About Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/62/71651.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic

(CDC) Number of Suspected Cases Under Investigation in the United States
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/sars.htm
(WHO) Number of Suspected Cases Under Investigaion throughout World
http://www.who.int/csr/sarscountry/en/
(CDC) SARS Fact Page
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/

[Cicero]

This is the second instance in which China has withheld crucial information. First they kept the disease secret for three months, and now they failed to inform health officials of a critical piece of information that might have helped prevent its spread.

[EternalHope]

As you said on another thread: The Chinese got some splain'in to do.

The Chinese say they are cooperating, but still won't let outsiders (even the WHO health teams) into the infected areas. We should not be concerned, especially since they are claiming, "No new cases since March 11."

(They made the same claim in February, just before doubling the number of reported cases. But this time they really mean it.)

Just in case someone might have questions, they imposed a news blackout on this topic for the whole nation.

So... Just how bad is it in China?

[CathyRyan]

ProMED has a new update on cases if anyone wants to tackle it.



http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus/f?p=2400:1001:202403928306151656::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,21134

[Dog Gone]

"The longest possible incubation period that we've seen is 14 days," spokesman Dick Thompson said Sunday in an interview from Geneva.

And 10 days? "That's what I would have told you before we had access to the Guangdong data."

The problem is that by the time we know how to contain it, it will be too late. In fact, it probably already is.

Flights are leaving hourly from the hotbed of this illness, and the virus has probably already spread worldwide.

The only real chance we have to defend against it is if a person doesn't transmit the disease before severe symptoms manifest themselves.

The whole point is, WE DON'T KNOW.