Posted on 04/23/2003 5:53:43 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
SARS BUG DEADLIER THAN AIDS SAYS DOC Apr 24 2003
A LEADING doctor has warned the SARS virus could be more devastating than AIDS.
Dr Patrick Dickson called on world governments to act to stamp out the threat from the deadly respiratory illness.
Dr Dixon, one of Europe's experts on predicting global trends, said it could be more dangerous than AIDS because of its ability to spread quickly.
He said: "It is worth remembering that AIDS has infected 80 million people so far over 15 to 20 years.
"AIDS spreads slowly so we can track it and plan for it. We have effective anti- viral drugs which can prolong life.
"But this is different, we don't have the time. This is a far more serious epidemic potentially than AIDS."
Dr Dixon said his main concern was rural, isolated areas in China and around the world.
He added: "In a country like India, which is chaotic with minimum health provision, the potential for spreading the virus is huge."
Dr Dixon, a fellow at the Centre for Management Development at London Business School, said if current trends continued, there could be a billion cases within 60 weeks.
He has called on world leaders to address the problem as a matter of "national security".
The Government yesterday advised Britons not to travel to Toronto, Hong Kong and the Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Beijing and Shanxi because of SARS.
Toronto is the first location outside Asia added to the list.
Actually no...in normal cases it takes 7-10 years before people even need drugs to fight the virus...and there are people who are still healthy after 15 plus years and counting on these drugs.
Sure there is no cure and some are becoming drug resistant..(mostly because they don't take the drugs as instructed)...but so far the new AIDS drugs are proving to work extremely well..and new ones are being developed all the time.
And by the way, it doesn't take vast wealth to get these HIV drugs..they are expensive but no more so than many other medical conditions people live with.
Not only the rich..but the poor who are on public assistance can and do receive these drugs.
People who have AIDS will die from almost ANY opportunist infection...things that are easily fought off among the healthy population can be deadly to AIDS patients.
Therefore something like SARS is really much more of a threat to "AIDS people" than other infectious diseases.
It's a different story for the general population, and those who have health issues other than AIDS...which is a lot of people.
You mean Magic stopped taking his meds? I find that hard to believe. I heard that those who stop taking their AIDS drugs have always seen the disease rebound....
Im not sure thats real great news. Apologies for sounding so heartless but: The ability to hang around for 15 years, potentially infecting more people, is the downside view.
I happen to just be finishing reading Letters to a young conservative by Dinesh DSouza (great book) and he tells of running polls when he was working on the Dartmouth Review questioning how to deal with AIDS. The vote came up to have a tattoo on the butt of anyone testing positive. Then they ran polls to vote on what the tattoo should say. The winner: "Abandon hope, all ye who enter" (poking fun at The Left was made into great sport at Dartmouth Review)
Do you know what the statistics were in the beginning of the Epidemic/Pandemic?
According to the World Health Organization's statistics as of Wednesday, there have been 4,288 reported cases since November. Cases in the United States total 39, with no reported deaths.
Even though no effective drug treatment for SARS exists, Montagnier [the co-discoverer of HIV] was not alarmed about the development of the epidemic, arguing that there are many tools available for tracking and controlling its spread.
"An epidemic where 95 percent of the people survive hasn't got much chance of going very far." He added: "Many more people die from flu every year."
Oh..so when it comes to those who contract diseases that could potentially infect others...the sooner they die the better.
You're right..that is heartless.
This sounds like good news...reason amid the panic over SARS. Is it supposed to offend me that this appears on a gay web site?
These drugs are extremely expensive and obviously people with AIDS don't pay from their own pocket. Everyone pays, in the form of higher insurance or taxes. Meanwhile, people with AIDS can keep giving it to other people. I mean, who gives AIDS to people - those with AIDS or those without AIDS???
I do hope you are not trying to diminish the severity of this situation and the potential devastating effects this could cause.
Yes, SARS kills anywhere from 3-6% of those infected, compared to nearly 100% with AIDS. The problem with SARS is the extreme contagion. You catch it by breathing the air next to an infected person! Obviously much easier to be infected than AIDS. Without draconian measures, SARS has the potential to infect hundreds of millions around the world in the next few years.
With approximately 6 million dead per hundred million infected, this will cause extreme panic, economic turmoil. This is nothing to diminish. As contagious as this virus is, it could easily infect hundreds of millions just on the Asian continent alone.
The numbers above also assume no changes. If SARS mutates into something deadlier, the numbers go up. It is also possible that SARS could just burn itself out.
Right now this is an extremely serious situation and the numbers and severity of SARS cases is more than likely being under-reported.
Best we all keep on top of this, and boost our immune systems as much as possible, and do not make light of what is happening!!
We may be looking at massive quarantines of entire towns, cities, counties, countries. This situation could escalate out of control quickly. Let us hope that the Asian governments (and the Canadian gov) take massive measures to cut this thing off quickly.
Exactly. That's what I've been thinking. How does this differ from pneumonia or other cases of influenza? I've spent no time worrying about it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.