Is the Sub-continent immune to SARS menace?

HindustanTimes.com ^ | ,April 23, 2003 | Shakti Sharma

[CathyRyan]

Are people from India and Indian sub-continent immune to the fast spreading SARS virus? This question is baffling the medical community, with doctors discussing the possibility of the virus being race-specific.

Some doctors are of the view that people of the sub-continent may have a higher level of immunity to the virus. They reason that with a large number of Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lanka frequenting SARS-affected regions like Singapore, Hong Kong and other territories, hardly anyone has contracted the virus.

WHO (Delhi HQ) Information Officer, Harsharn Pandey avers: "It has been almost five months since the first case of SARS was reported from China, and the virus has spread to 23 countries, but not a single case of SARS has been reported from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh".

AIIMS virologist, Dr Shobha Broor says," Viruses are never race sensitive but it could be possible that people from this part of the sub-continent could have developed antibodies to counter the SARS virus."

Although WHO has no race-wise record of SARS victims - both dead and those affected -- available information culled from various sources points out that no person from this part of the world has died of SARS so far.

Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the US health department, Dr Julie L Gerberding, during a recent video conference, admitted about the typical race-specific behaviour of the virus and said that in China, Hong Kong and Singapore the ongoing transmission of this virus at a very accelerated pace in "certain communities".

Doctors are also pointing out at the fact that the local transmission of the virus has so far been reported from China, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, UK and the USA, while in the sub-continent, people who had tested positive for the virus had brought in the disease from infected nations and the recovery rate is cent percent.

Quoting incidents of SARS, doctors say, the first ever case of SARS in India was reported from Goa where a marine engineer tested positive. The patient, however, responded well to treatment and recovered in almost no time.

In the latest SARS case reported from Pune, three members of a family -- Stanley D'silva, his mother Vimla and sister Julie -- who came to India three weeks ago, tested positive. While Stanley has completely recovered, his mother and sister are responding well to treatment.

Indian Medical Association (Delhi Chapter) president, KK Aggarwal says the so called SARS positive cases reported cases in India may ultimately test negative, as the confirmatory test for the virus on the convalescent sample has to be done after 21 days.

[Myrddin]

I heard a bit of the show last night. If last night's show was all I had to measure him, I would agree with your assessment. Quayle didn't write the article claiming that SARS is a Chinese bioweapon. He simply put a reference to the article on his website.

[theFIRMbss]

>So who would want to go after Asians? Racist usually go straight for blacks or Jewish people, why Asians?

Of all the questions
I've seen connected with SARS,
this seems the strangest.

It seems strange because
the answer's so obvious.
If we're going to

speculate about
SARS as a bioweapon --
and admittedly

that is tin foil time --
then who else but the US
neo-Nazi fringe

comes to mind? These folk,
like their real Nazi kindred,
seem to have many

followers who have
deep academic backgrounds.
Most importantly,

fringe right wing voices
have singled out the issue
of US interests

"selling out" people
here at home to empower
China. Now, China

is getting "attacked"
in a way that not only
destroys their image

as a "safe" partner,
but also is destroying
their cheap labor base.

Finally, after
OKC, we know there are
domestic people

motivated for
action. Too bad Tim McVeigh
is no longer here

to supply us more
details about whatever
groups and contacts and

"resources" joined up
their "talents" for OKC.
There might be leads there...

[Betty Jo]

Yep, do not go to Toronto!

[Betty Jo]

Yep, do not go to Toronto!

[Lady Heron]

Of all the questions I've seen connected with SARS, this seems the strangest

I was just trying to figure out where he was going with this line of thought. It just did not make sense to me, it is not where racist usually start. If you are going to spend all that time making a ethinic bio-weapon why start with Asians, they are not usually a (white) racist first target(my first American train of thought).

Several people answered with what I thought were good responses of who would target that race if you follow that line of thinking through.

Nobody said that they believed this line of thought, but it seems that on Chinese message boards they think that they have been specifically targeted(by the U.S. or muslims). It was just an intresting logic path to explore and one that might need to be countered if it gets out of hand.

[glory]

Well that vindicates my husband. My grandmother is gravely ill and was in Hopkins for care...Hubby didn't think it was wise to visit the hospital, especially with the kids in tow, I was in agreement. My son is 3 and loves slithering on the floor like a snake of late. Knowing there is a physician there who my family may have had contact with and is being treated in the very same hospital has made this decision that much more sobering. We decided to put this to prayer and wait when I could go alone or a time when she would be moved out of a hospital setting--probably in a week or so and hope that God will keep my grandmother here while we wait for that time to arrive. Oh and my grandmother has been moved home with a home nurse part time. How long is approx incubation on this? It will be about 10 days before we have exposure to anyone who was in John Hopkins. Again, this is important as to whether or not my children go with me. We really would like them to go(these are her only great grands and she's never met them), but we don't want to take the risk if it is too high.

[aristeides]

Incubation period for SARS is thought to be about 5 to 15 days.

[aristeides]

Children do not seem to be badly affected by SARS. Their lives would almost certainly not be in danger. But they would potentially spread the disease if they caught it.

[glory]

Thanks for the info. Will keep an ear out with family. Hopefully all are unaffected(including my grandmother for which SARS would mean certain death, at least an earlier one since she is dying from other ailments). I'm going to go forward with my plans to visit with the children unless I hear anything else going on there or she returns to the hospital.
Thanks again.

[riri]

Children do not seem to be badly affected by SARS

Quite a few small children appear to be ill from the Singapore market. I have not read as to the severity of there symptoms though.

[aristeides]

According to the Hong Kong figures of a few days ago, no one under age 15 has died, and only 2 of about 500 between ages 15 and 34.

[riri]

That's interesting.

Looks like we could have a whole generation of the botox crowd's "menapause babies".

[Domestic Church]

I think it is plausible that population control is at the root.

[Domestic Church]

I wonder why they wouldn't say the name of the NY school?

[aristeides]

I don't know why. There can't be that many colleges in Onondaga County, can there?

[CobaltBlue]

I was wondering about the pet factor. Do Chinese keep cats and dogs as pets? I know that cats are eaten by older Chinese men who think cat meat will restore youthful sexual vigor, and that some consider dog meat a delicacy, but have no idea about the custom or practice of keeping cats and dogs as pets in China.

[FITZ]

Now that's interesting ---I wonder if any of the victims recently ate dogs. That's one habit Chinese have that's different than people from India and the US.

[FITZ]

I don't know if they have them as pets because they eat them --- so that might make them less likely to have cross-immunity from the animal viruses ---I recently read that kids raised around pets are healthier and I think it could be due to similar viruses on animals that aren't pathogenic to humans ---like natural vaccines because they'll build up your antibodies without making you sick.

[CobaltBlue]

I think it's very interesting that the Japanese and people on the Indian sub-continent have almost zero SARS. The Indian press is speculating that there is a genetic component, but the low level of infection in Japan rules that out, unless it's just chance so far.
http://www.who.int/csr/sarscountry/2003_04_23/en/

Which is why I speculate about a lifestyle difference.

[freedumb2003]

It's okay to say "white people".

Not without the standard "racist" prefix or "(you know, the ones who hate People of Color)" suffix.

Jeeze, don't you pay attention? Now skulk in a corner and apologize for being white (if applicable). Apologize and promise to never have straight kids if you are a white male.