SARS Mystery Deepens (Virus details)

Newsday ^ | April 1, 2003 | Laurie Garrett

[Calpernia]

Ooo, good tip!

I also found an antibacterial hand gel. It comes in little bottles and fits nice in your bag. It kills germs without water and moisturizes.

[honway]

After he defected to Britain, Pasechnik told Christopher Davis that he had been approached by China to work for them. Instead MI6 helped him defect from Paris –where he was attending a science conference. He brought to Britain highly secret documents which showed how advanced the Russians were in bio-chemical weapons. The documents also contained evidence of China’s effort to become the world leader in the field.

MI6, the CIA, and the intelligence services of Canada, Australia and Europe are combining all their resources to establish if China has sent killer squads from its own secret service (CSIS) to murder all those scientists it had approached – and who had declined to work for China.

[CathyRyan]

Patient treated with serum

A SARS sufferer has been given serum taken from the blood of a recovered patient, a treatment that has shown results in Hongkong. It was tried here for the first time on Monday night.

Doctors at Tan Tock Seng Hospital used it on a very sick woman who, for about a week now, has needed a ventilator to breathe. Mrs Mok, whose husband Joseph was the first to die of Sars here, has improved slightly, said the clinical director of the Communicable Disease Centre, Dr Leo Yee Sin.

She said Mrs Mok, whose daughter Esther was one of three women who brought the virus to Singapore, now relies on the ventilator for 90 per cent of her oxygen needs, instead of being totally dependent on it.

She had been given serum, containing antibodies which fight the virus, taken from one of the 52 recovered Sars patients.

But before using it on more patients here, Dr Leo said there was a need to study the Hongkong experience to understand how much serum to use and when to use it.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/topstories/story/0,4386,180669,00.html

[Calpernia]

Here is another link to add to what you just posted:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/bian/bian_jan_2002.htm

[Calpernia]

And how would we study the Hong Kong experiement if China still hasn't let the WHO in? And why haven't they? Thankfully, Canada has admitted our CDC and the WHO.

[Mamzelle]

re: An analysis of cases in Hong Kong from February 22 to March 22 found the virus was not hitting the customarily susceptible populations -- the very young and very old -- as the mean age of patients was 52. Similarly, few patients were smokers or people with underlying health problems. )))

What kind of people travel and ride in airplanes? Businesspeople and tourists, seldom children, infirm or elderly. The healthy and affluent, mature and newly retired.

[CathyRyan]

I do not think China will let us in until they get around to admitting that they do not know how many SARS cases there are because they stopped asking. I bet a bunch of poor smucks have been told if they reported to Beijing any cases of SARS they would be out of a job and in poor health. I would guess we are still getting numbers that they had before they stopped collecting data. If you don't write it down it never happened.

[Calpernia]

More update on the wire:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030402/ap_on_he_me/mystery_illness_travel_5

The United Nations (news - web sites) health agency on Wednesday advised travelers to avoid going to Hong Kong and the Chinese province of Guangdong because of a deadly outbreak of a mystery disease.

The World Health Organization (news - web sites) said it was taking the action because at least nine foreign businessmen have caught Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, in Hong Kong and returned with it to their home countries
>>

I personally think all travel should be BANNED rather than advised against UNTIL China let's the WHO IN.

But I think CathyRyan is right. China is just hoping this goes away.

[honway]

Thanks. I am concerned about the trend in the new cases in the United States and I am waiting for a break in the trend.

On March 11, there were 11 reported cases in the U.S.
On March 24, there were 37 reported cases in the U.S.
On April 2, 72 cases.

The current trend suggests the number of cases in the U.S. are roughly doubling each week.

On a hypothetical basis, if the number of cases doubled every week, in 23 weeks everyone in the U.S. would have SARS.

I definately do not expect this trend to hold up, but I will be glad to see it break.

[honway]

If you are coughing, insist on a chest x-ray would be my advise. 100.4 degrees is the threshold temperature.
Take care. You will be in my thoughts and I wish you a speedy recovery.

[CathyRyan]

HK is doubling every week too. See post #1

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/881827/posts

[bonesmccoy]

SARS is not something that is so concerning that world attention needs to immediately focus away from the hunt for WMD's and the fight against tyranny.

In fact, SARS is great testimony to why we need free and independent physicians who will not be responsive to political winds, hospital financial motives, or drug company incentives.

[bonesmccoy]

I'm certain you agree that if the point of entry has not had universal precautions in place for the last months, it is unlikely that the POE was screening arriving individuals who were carrying the germ.

If a person arrived from an endemic area during the incubation period, they would be asymptomatic at arrival. Once in the country, they would be spreading the disease.

If the disease is as contagious as FR readers are contending, the virus would be spread across entire cities by this time.

Robust isolation of US cases appears to be occuring. NBC News showed a guy who was ordered to remain at home, but was out tossing football in his front yard and feeling good.

Do you feel that SARS is a real emergency?

[Justa]

Given this thing's contagion rate I'd say everyone's gonna get this w/in a year. At 3.47% fatality (last I read) that'd put the global deaths at 200 million with 1.4 million in the U.S.

[theFIRMbss]

>the culprit's "conserved region” -- the hallmarks of a species -- is 78 percent identical to similar sections of genes found in common coronaviruses. But the study found other sections of the virus' RNA bear no resemblance to any known coronavirus, either human or animal.
>>"SARS is not something that is so concerning that world attention needs to immediately focus away from the hunt for WMD's"

Well, if you hunt for
rabbits, you best be prepared
to see a rabbit...

It's possible SARS
is a weapon that's started
its mass destruction.

[SauronOfMordor]

N95 masks are now selling for 50% higher then three days ago on eBay and stores are starting to run out in the US, especially in those states where there are suspected cases.

For any freepers who might want to find N95 masks: they are stocked in the paint supply section of any large hardware store (for the moment), as workmen use them too (N95 has a charcoal layer which will filter paint fumes and "other stuff")

[AppyPappy]

Doubtful. It seems to be following the path of other deadly flu's

[eyespysomething]

I remember that. It wasn't very well known, and I never saw anything about it again. Thanks for the info again, and the similarities.

Damn we live in strange times!

[bonesmccoy]

I'll believe you if:
1. Gene sequencing shows homology to known hantavirus sequences.
2. Development from a random recombination event (during coinfection of two viruses in the same cell) has been eliminated from consideration.
3. Commonality exists between patients.

In the beginning of this issue, I posted the possibility that it could be related to Hantavirus, RSV, or influenza. The announcement that it appears related to Coronavirus should be reassuring.

The spectrum of clinical cases suggests that it is behaving like other respiratory viruses. So far, I've not seen any reason to suspect this is BT.

[Calpernia]

I hope it is similar to a flu. I just can't understand why China won't let WHO in to research it.