Free Republic

School is back across the country, so let's survey the landscape of both higher and lower education. At the University of Michigan, students who test positive for COVID are being forced into off-campus quarantine -- like something out of 2021. They may not attend classes, and they may not remain in their dorm rooms, "even if they are in a single room." Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford writes, "students testing covid positive must leave their dorms for 5 days & live in the community. A hotel room or a relative's house is ok. This cruel policy is designed to spread...

I'm a doctor in a major hospital in Western Europe. Watching you Americans (and you, Brits) in these still-early days of the coronavirus pandemic is like watching a familiar horror movie, where the protagonists, yet again, split into pairs or decide to take a tour of a dark basement. The real-life versions of this behavior are pretending this is just a flu; keeping schools open; following through with your holiday travel plans, and going into the office daily. This is what we did in Italy. We were so complacent that even when people with coronavirus symptoms started turning up, we...

Time to stay calm and continue on.... Yesterday's thread is here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3823193/posts

19 percent of the nationally representative group reported having a food allergy. But only 10.8 percent said they had symptoms consistent with an allergic reaction to food, such as hives, swelling of the lips or throat, and chest pain. The main culprits behind these allergies were shellfish, milk, and tree nuts. Those who didn’t have a convincing food allergy instead reported symptoms like stomach cramps, a stuffy nose, or nausea. The findings, published Friday in JAMA Network Open, roughly match up to estimates from other studies, including those that confirmed a person’s food allergy with testing or medical records. In...

Friday February 3, 8:27 PM Bird flu now endemic in southern China including H.K. (Kyodo) _ Bird flu is now endemic among wild birds in the southern region in China, including Guangdong Province and Hong Kong, the territory's health chief said Friday. Health, Welfare and Food Secretary York Chow, however, said that the risk of humans contracting the H5N1 virus from infected birds is still limited. "H5N1 is already an endemic virus among the avian population in the southern Chinese region and this is the reason why we try to have a policy to ensure that the virus would not...

A Trojan has hit Microsoft's AntiSpyware (Beta), which disables it, and steals banking details login Ids and passwords. Trojans or "Trojan horse" is a type of program that allows other people to access your machine (generally for malicious purposes) over the Internet. Trojans cannot propagate themselves like a virus. You have to download an application or the server exe file, which is usually sent in an e-mail message. The email message will promise you something good and would prompt you to download and installs the exe attachment. This is why it is called a Trojan horse -- you have to...

March 30, 2004 A New Era in Treating Imaginary Ills By MARY DUENWALD very doctor recognizes them. The man who discovers a bruise on his thigh and becomes convinced that it is leukemia. The woman who examines her breasts so frequently that she makes them tender, then decides that the soreness means she has cancer. The man who has suffered from heartburn all his life but after reading about esophageal cancer has no question that he has it. They make frequent doctors' appointments, demand unnecessary tests and can drive their friends and relatives — not to mention their physicians —...

SARS Scare Reaches South Texas LAST UPDATE: 4/25/2003 5:22:41 PM Posted By: Julie Fike The SARS border scare reached all the way to Laredo. Border agents in South Texas near Freer Friday arrested 17 illegal immigrants. Six of them were Chinese. Agents took the six to a doctor’s hospital in Laredo. They were tested for SARS. Three of the six were given a clean bill of health. The results are still pending on the other three. Laredo Immigration Assistant Chief George Gunnoe says he believes the final test results later Friday night. Gunnoe says the chances of them having SARS...

Billion SARS cases feared By Mary Papadakis 27Apr03 MORE than one billion people worldwide could be infected by the deadly SARS virus within a year, a leading UK scientist has warned. Dr Patrick Dixon, a specialist in predicting global trends based at London's Development Management School, said SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) had the potential to turn into a pandemic and infect more people than AIDS. The grim prediction comes as a Melbourne infection control specialist warned the virus could destroy Third World countries. Glenys Harrington, who flew to Manila yesterday to join the World Health Organisation's assault on SARS,...

HUNDE, China — An hour south of Guangzhou, the Dongyuan animal market presents endless opportunities for an emerging germ. In hundreds of cramped stalls that stink of blood and guts, wholesale food vendors tend to veritable zoos that will grace Guangdong Province's tables: snakes, chickens, cats, turtles, badgers, frogs. And, in summer, sometimes rats, too.They are all stacked in cages one on top of another — which in turn serve as seats, card tables and dining quarters for the poor migrants who work there. On a recent morning, near stall 17, there were beheaded snakes, disemboweled frogs and feathers...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A Brown University faculty member and a 2-year-old Minnesota boy are being monitored as possible SARS cases - both recent visitors to Toronto. Toronto is the epicenter of the biggest outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome outside of Asia, where the disease originated. More than 250 probable or suspected cases have been reported in the Toronto area, with 19 deaths so far. The unnamed Brown faculty member in the division of biology and medicine has been asked to stay away from campus. Students who have been in contact with the professor have been informed, according to...

4,000 Quarantined in Beijing as Suspected SARS Cases Climb EIJING, April 25 — At least 4,000 Beijing residents with exposure to a contagious respiratory disease are being kept in isolation, often in their own homes, health authorities said today, and a second major hospital was put under total quarantine, with virtually no one allowed to enter or leave. City education officials also revealed that 300 college students who had contact with infected people suffering the dangerous new disease, known as SARS, have been sequestered in a military training camp for two weeks' observation. As Beijing began a stringent new quarantine...