I hope it is quickly contained. It could be devatating to the Iraqi population if it got out of Kuwait and into Iraq.

Wouldn't be so hot for our troops or British troops, either.

True, but they are in much better health to begin with. I would imagine SARS would be even deadlier for ill fed civilians in Iraq. Also sanitary conditions in the war zone are probably terrible.

"Chinese scientists believe that the bacteria Chlamydia is one of the main pathogens"

An extremely frightening finding that SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) could be a mutation of Chlamydia - a "social disease". Why does this make it more dangerous? It would NOT be "Politically Correct" to quarantine people for a "personal choice" communicable disease(AIDS, HIV, etc).

From further research:

"SARS is believed to spread through respiratory and possibly other body secretions. Close contact with an infected person is needed for the infective agent to spread."

"If SARS is caused by paramyxoviruses, then experience with this group of viruses would suggest the very young, elderly those with chronic lung or heart disease, and those who are immunocompromised may experience more severe disease."

This sounds more and more to be another disease, related to AIDS / HIV ???

SARS comes on the heels of the breaking news not long ago of the AIDS epidemic in CHINA ?????

Perhaps. But, as concerned as I am for ANY population which is victimized by an epidemic, my greatest concern is for our troops. Also, remember the Influenza epidemic during WWI killed thousands of soldiers, sailers and marines right along with many civillians. It spread like wildfire among troops who lived in close conditions. The Flu epidemic unaccountably killed many, many strong young people in the prime of life, and why it behaved that way has never been explained.

This sounds more and more to be another disease, related to AIDS / HIV ??? SARS comes on the heels of the breaking news not long ago of the AIDS epidemic in CHINA ?????

The Amazing Placenta

Then comes the practice of placentophagia, eating the placenta, is also practiced in some parts of the world. There are even meal like recipes for cooking placentas, including placenta stew, placenta lasagna, power drinks with blended placenta and others. Though some mothers have been reported to eat placenta raw.

There are many reasons listed for eating the placenta, including it helping stem postpartum depression and it supposedly helps to contract the uterus after the birth. We know that many animals eat their own placenta, including as a means to hide the scent from predators.

In our modern world this may seem barbaric and some have even said that this could spread HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis. While this is very true if people other than the mother consume the placenta, normally it is only the mother partaking of the placenta*.

In Chinese Medicine, the placenta is known as a great life force and is highly respected in terms of its medicinal value. However, in this field it is not cook, but rather usually dried. To dry a placenta you would simply dehydrate it in the oven, then using a mortar and pestle grind it up. From there you can mix it with food or ingest it within capsules. I have actually known one mother who did this drying technique. It is my only personal experience with placentophagia.

[*But, according to a journalist, placentas are sold by vendors in China.
See: Jim Detjen and family in China]

Interesting:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/aug2001/aids-a06.shtml

As many as half a million people may be infected with HIV/AIDS in the rural Chinese province of Henan. Tens of thousands of poor peasants, struggling to survive on incomes of a few hundred dollars a year, became infected while selling their blood to profit-making, blood-collecting agencies and have spread the disease due to ignorance.

According to the July issue of the Chinese-language magazine Cheng Ming, the Henan provincial health council decided in 1993 to establish blood collection networks among rural communities. A government official declared in a report: “We must develop ‘third industry’ such as blood stations. Henan has a population of nearly 90 million, of whom 80 percent are peasants. Even if there are only one to three percent of these 70 million peasants willing to sell blood once or twice a year, we will be able to collect this blood for biomedical companies, and can create millions in value.”

Over subsequent years, at least 200 legal blood stations and an unknown number of illegal stations were set up under this official policy. The operators were generally government bodies, such as hospitals, or private entrepreneurs connected with government officials. Peasants were encouraged to sell blood for around $US5 per 400cc. Blood plasma was sold on to biomedical companies operating in Shanghai and other major cities, which utilised it to manufacture medicines.

Terrorism against Kuwaitis and our troops!

I dont know why everybody is makeing such a big deal out of this SARS, only 86 people have died of this world wide, way more people die of the common flu every year.

Chlamydia pneumoniae is nothing new, and it is not sexually transmitted. It's a ubiquitous pathogen.

The chlamydia pneumonae is just a sidekick infection to the particular coronavirus in Chinese patients along with the earlier paramyxovirus pieces showing up in some other cases outside of China.

There might be something to this, some viral-microbe symbiosis occurring. Or there might be another agent (microbe or environmental) that hasn't been uncovered that is quietly ravaging immune systems (drastic increase in childhood asthma over the past decade.) SARS is hitting the healthiest sector of the population.

Bump for later reading

From another research center:

"The X-rays of many patients resembled the pattern of pneumonia produced by a microbe, Pneumocystis carinii pneumoniae, or PCP, that is common in patients with AIDS but rarely seen in people with normal immune systems."

"A point of confusion was a statement by the Chinese that some seriously ill patients showed "immune system functions at a low level." There was no mention of whether such patients were infected with H.I.V., the AIDS virus. Dr. Heymann said the W.H.O. was seeking a clarification."

Can we amend the title of this to be "SUSPECTED" case rather than the implication that it's a confirmed case?

bump to moderator...

Excerpted article with the "history" of SARS.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/886603/posts

http://www.hkupasteur.hku.hk/hkuip/SARS.html

Here's a good link with a compilation of early articles in the commentary.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/876708/posts

The Amazing Placenta

Great Name For a Band ....

That is exactly my thought on SARS - it is no more deadly than the flu. Every year hundreds of people die of the flu.

My cat ate the placentas after she gave birth to her kittens.