Agitprop in action? [Was U.S. SARS Outbreak? Vallejo, California]

5/25.03

[D. Brian Carter]

Hmmm, in my browser they've got your name on the posts. Somebody piggybackin' on your USER ID?

[TaxRelief]

For the record, patient confidentiality laws are applicable to information about specific patients.

The question "How many patients in this hospital have SARS?" is an answerable one.

The question "What is the specific condition of Ms. Jones?" is only answerable if she or her family allow the information to be released. In an injury situation, once family has been notified, I believe the hospital can state the level of injury such as "stable", "critical" or "intensive care", etc.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Yeah, you raise good points... However, if we were to call the hospital and ask about the condition of the 'union steward' who now claims to have SARS, they would be unable to answer... which means it is not verifiable - she could be lying... :0)

[TaxRelief]

Actually, she just has to sign a release and they can answer any question you ask. Tell her to paste copies of her signed medical release all over the internet, that should really up the ante.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Good idea... heh heh heh

[TaxRelief]

I know it is all BS, but would like to see the specific refutations for our own personal knowledge, when you get the chance...

[hellinahandcart]

Wow, look what I missed by going out of town for six days!

Thanks for the ping, I'll catch up on all this tomorrow.

[MarMema]

Ok well the RBC count has nothing to do with an illness such as SARS or pneumonia. It is the number of red blood cells in our blood and is about anemia or internal bleeding.

I am questioning the dx of metabolic acidosis, which is a condition normally seen with kidney failure, salicylate overdose ( aspirin) or in diabetic ketoacidosis. I was unable to find in searches a reason for metabolic acidosis to be a compensatory mechanism for any kind of respiratory condition.

decreased clotting factors - I cannot think of any association this would have to a respiratory illness or flu of any kind.

[MarMema]

And finally what is described as some patients with RSV ( a virus normally seen in children but adults can suffer from it as well) and others with pneumonia from bacterial infections sounds pretty normal to me. There are plenty of gram negative rods which could be infectious - Klebsiella comes to mind - in an elderly population to cause pneumonia.

In short all the medical lab stuff is worthless as information because it either has no relevance to any kind of respiratory illness or is a commonly seen dx for respiratoy illness. It's like - so what?

[TaxRelief]

Thanks for the break-down medical refutation of the bogus Kelly post. I appreciate the ammo.

[JustPiper]

Welcome but now the school in Toronto closed and WHO reinstated the travel warning and....

[CobaltBlue]

I once had a case where a person who was immune suppressed came down with Epstein-Barr virus, and developed Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, probably secondary, probably due to the fact that he came down with the infection while he was immune-suppressed. The histiocytes start attacking the organs and the bone marrow.

This is so rare that many patients are not diagnosed. It's hard to diagnose without a bone marrow biopsy. The treatment of choice these days is bone marrow transplant.

He developed DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation) and massive organ failure, which is what happens in end stage hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. At one point he had metabolic acidosis. He had a low white count, a low platelet count, and his red cells were both low and abnormal, all due to being phagocyted by histiocytes.

This disease can be caused by infections other than Epstein Barr, including dengue fever, tuberculosis, malaria, Parvovirus B19, salmonella, staphylococcus, enterobacter, Serratia marcesens and Penicillium maneffei, and maybe others. No reported case of it being caused by a coronavirus yet, but SARS is one nasty coronavirus.

The only reason I mention it is that with SARS, in my opinion, at this time, until it's better understood, we need to think zebras, not horses.