[JimDingle]

People are making a big deal out of nothing. I would bet the flu has the same mortality rate as SARS does.

[chicagolady]

I am sorry to be a conspiricy theorist

BUT All I see is ANOTHER VACCINE CREATED BY THE FILTHY RICH DRUG COMPANIES.

They also call it population control.
I have never had a stupid flu shot and am healthier for it. Just like our poor canine companion friends we are being VACCINED TO DEATH.
Forget the new SARS vaccine that has already been in the news. I will take my chances!

[TennesseeProfessor]

SARS is worse that the Flu. Normally, Flu kills at most 1% of the people it infects, and the people severly affected already had weakened immune systems. Plus there is a vaccine that doesn't always work but usually helps. SARS has no vaccine, affects healthy people, and has something approaching 3% fatality. For comparison, the Spanish Flu also has 3% fatality rates and spread even easier than SARS, but the Super-Flu bugs are very rare.

[EternalHope]

I would bet the flu has the same mortality rate as SARS does.

It would be nice if it did, but it doesn't.

Spanish flu: 2.5% of those infected died (the worst flu the U.S. has had)

Typical flu: 0.1% to 0.2% of those infected die.

SARS: 3% to 4% of those infected die, if computed simply by dividing the total number of deaths by the number of cases.

However, SARS is so new that most victims are still sick. Some of the sick will die, and some of those who live will have permanently damaged lungs. If you take yesterday's statistics from Hong Kong, you will find 17 have died, 99 have recovered, and 645 are still sick. With numbers like these, it is simply too soon to know what the statistics will end up looking like.

We don't even have a reliable way to confirm a diagnosis of SARS. The United States has elected to err on the side of caution, reporting SARS on a "Suspected" basis. Some of the "suspected" cases are already being re-classified as something else. In other words, SARS cases in the United States are jumbled up with other kinds of pneumonia, making current statistics for SARS in the United States meaningless.

If you want statistics about SARS, Hong Kong is your best bet (statistics from there may not be accurate either). If you want to read about how SARS started in Hong Kong, first hand, then go here:

A top doctor's report from Hong Kong

It's relatively short, and a good read.

[chicagolady]

Yet one more example of problems that will result when you are not providing your body with the resources it needs to maintain high-level health.

SARS, HIV, Lyme's, Herpes, many others and as yet undiscovered infections--these are NOT the problem. They are only the triggers that highlight the weaknesses in our immune armor.