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Evolutionary History Of SARS Supports Bats As Virus Source ScienceDaily (Feb. 20, 2008) — Scientists who have studied the genome of the virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) say their comparisons to related viruses offer new evidence that the virus infecting humans originated in bats. The analysis tracing the viruses’ paths through human and animal hosts counters assertions that SARS was eradicated in 2004 when thousands of palm civet cats in China were identified as the original source and killed in an effort to eliminate the risk of new outbreaks. According to this new analysis, humans actually appear...

When the SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic broke out in 2002, Israeli scientist Dorit Arad was alarmed. She was living in the US at the time, and had to fly frequently for her work, exposing herself to risk. During the outbreak, which lasted from November 2002 to July 2003, 774 people died of the highly contagious respiratory disease - a mortality rate of 9.6 percent. "I was panicked," admits Arad. "I even started wearing a mask." It gave her an idea, however. One of the problems with this pneumonia-like disease, was diagnosis, which was expensive, slow, and had a...

A Chinese military surgeon who broke government secrecy to reveal the true scale of Beijing's SARS outbreak in 2003 has been banned from leaving China to accept a human rights award, a rights watchdog said Wednesday. Jiang Yanyong, 76, was praised as an "honest doctor" by Chinese media after he wrote a letter to reporters saying that Beijing had more than 100 unreported SARS cases. The revelation was followed by embarrassing official admissions and the firing of a cabinet minister. SARS killed nearly 800 people around the world, including 44 in Toronto. Jiang has been awarded the Heinz R. Pagels...

China Faces Crisis of Credibility Before Olympics By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom June 13, 2007China has a crisis on its hands. With less than a year to the final run up to the Beijing Games next summer, Chinese pet food has killed American pets; Chinese toothpaste has been found to contain thinners that are poisonous; Chinese catfish are prohibited by Alabama and Mississippi because of high levels of antibiotics; a company in California has recalled “monkfish” from China because it is probably really puffer fish containing the toxin chemical tetrodotoxin.On Tuesday, June 12, 2007, China’s number two envoy in...

China and the Food Supply: The Ugly Story of China’s Culture of Corruption By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom May 8, 2007SARS. Bird flu. Contaminated dog food. Contaminated pharmaceuticals. Chickens held off the market. Pigs dying.“Food fear” is real. There is and should be real fear about the way China, or at least many Chinese firms involved, handle their responsibilities in food and feed manufacturing and development.Every once in a while a journalist gets to go back into the archieves and find something that was “relevant then and even more important now”.On Sunday, May 4, 2003, The Washington Times published...

EID Journal Home Volume 12, Number 12 December 2006 Abstract Bats have been identified as a natural reservoir for an increasing number of emerging zoonotic viruses, including henipaviruses and variants of rabies viruses. Recently, we and another group independently identified several horseshoe bat species (genus Rhinolophus) as the reservoir host for a large number of viruses that have a close genetic relationship with the coronavirus associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Our current research focused on the identification of the reservoir species for the progenitor virus of the SARS coronaviruses responsible for outbreaks during 2002 - 2003 and 2003...

Scientists at the Genomic Research Center of the Academia Sinica announced yesterday they had proved the existence of lung stem cells, which are an important target of infection for the SARS virus. The results were published in one of this year's issues of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which publishes reports on cutting-edge research from several different scientific disciplines. The project is a joint effort of the Genomics Research Center and the Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology of Academia Sinica, the National Defense Medical Center and Taipei Medical University. John Yu (Ÿà�³”Ž), the leader of the...

Whatever happened to ... the Sars pandemic? Iain Hollingshead Saturday February 25, 2006 The Guardian (UK) It has all been bird flu this week, but it is not so long since the spectre of a Sars pandemic was hogging the headlines. Severe acute respiratory syndrome is a pneumonia-like coronavirus that first emerged in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong in November 2002. Eight months later, the international spread of Sars-CoV had resulted in 8,098 cases and 774 deaths in 26 countries. "Surviving is even worse than dying," said one sufferer in Hong Kong. Many victims were left with debilitating bone...

Bush Outlines $7.1B Flu-Fighting Strategy By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer 32 minutes ago President Bush outlined a $7.1 billion strategy Tuesday to prepare for the danger of a pandemic influenza outbreak, saying he wanted to stockpile enough vaccine to protect 20 million Americans against the current strain of bird flu.The president also said the United States must approve liability protection for the makers of lifesaving vaccines. He said the number of American vaccine manufacturers has plummeted because the industry has been hit with a flood of lawsuits. Bush said no one knows when or where a deadly strain...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is scrambling to prepare the nation for a possible global rampage by a new flu germ that it fears could kill nearly 2 million Americans, sicken tens of millions more and shatter the economy. The key question is how much preparation can be done before a calamity strikes that, in a worst-case scenario, could make the health system collapse; overwhelm morgues; close schools, airports and harbors; end public gatherings; require strict quarantines; and cripple businesses and vital public services by mass absenteeism. "You're looking at a nation-busting event," warned Tara O'Toole, director of the Center...

WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush asked Congress on Tuesday to consider giving him powers to use the military to enforce quarantines in case of an avian influenza epidemic. He said the military, and perhaps the National Guard, might be needed to take such a role if the feared H5N1 bird flu virus changes enough to cause widespread human infection. "If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country? And how do you, then, enforce a quarantine?" Bush asked at a news conference. "It's one thing...

ORONTO - A deadly outbreak of a respiratory illness at a Toronto nursing home for the elderly has claimed six more lives, raising the death toll to 16, health officials said Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT The cause of the outbreak at the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged remains unknown, although officials insisted the situation was under control. Thirty-eight people remained hospitalized with the illness, and officials fear many of them are too frail to fully recover. Another 88 residents, employees and visitors have been affected. Public health officials have said it may never be possible to determine the exact type of...

China took a lot of deserved criticism a few years ago for its slow reaction to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. Now Beijing is rightly coming under fire for stalling on requests from international health officials to share samples of bird-flu virus. Evidently, the Chinese are afraid they won’t receive proper credit for the research they’ve done so far. That would be astonishingly shortsighted. Bird flu has popped up in several Asian countries besides China. Birds, notably chickens, have died in large numbers either from the disease or from programs to stop its spread by eradicating...

Disease hunters in action, just outside Washington, DC, at the U.S. Defense Department's Global Emerging Infections System, known as GEIS. They are working to track, prevent and cure infectious diseases. In one laboratory doctors are working with Sand Flies, which carry Leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease that usually infects the skin, but can also infect internal organs. Scientists also are working with mosquitoes that carry malaria. Chemists are working on new treatments and vaccines for a number of communicable diseases. Captain Joseph Malone Captain Joseph Malone is the director of GEIS. "We play a supportive role in both outbreaks within the...

Some Asian Bankers Worry About the Economic Toll From Bird Flu By KEITH BRADSHER HONG KONG, April 4 - Investment banks are starting to issue warnings on the risks that avian influenza poses to the economies and financial markets of East Asia, even as health experts struggle to assess whether the disease has the potential to cause a pandemic at all. With Asia, and particularly China, now the main area of global economic growth along with the United States, economists across the region are considering any factors that could derail the region's expansion. Many such risks are familiar ones -...

When SARS was on the wane, the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that it was an airborne virus. WHO got it wrong. A new Toronto study has found evidence that the SARS virus may spread through the air. That means SARS spreads not just through human contact, making it far more contagious than was previously thought. Before SARS ran its gamut in 2003, about 8,098 people in 29 countries contracted the deadly virus, with 774 of them dying. Included in the SARS fatalities were 44 in the Toronto area. Scientists agree that admitting...

Two new studies present evidence that the virus causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) may spread through the air, not just through direct contact with contaminated water droplets as previous research had shown. SARS coronavirus was detected in the air in a patient's room during the 2003 outbreak in Toronto, according to a new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. Another study, from Hong Kong, shows patients in hospital bays near a SARS patient had a much higher infection rate than patients in distant bays, consistent with the possibility of airborne SARS transmission, according to an article in...

NOW BIRD FLU ...Feb 02, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.comby Tim BrownIs “bird flu” the next SARS? The fear of so-called bird flu is growing in Southeast Asia. Thailand and Cambodia in addition to Vietnam have had cases of bird flu in humans. Flights between Hong Kong and Vietnam are broadcasting warnings of bird flu to passengers aboard the flight. It is rumored that China has cordoned off a strip along the Vietnam border as a buffer against the virus. The SARS virus debilitated the Asian economy. Business travel and exhibitions were cancelled. Many airlines cancelled service to and from Asian destinations....

GENEVA (AP) - The death toll from the Asian tidal waves could eventually double because of disease, the World Health Organization warned Tuesday. "There is certainly a chance that we could have as many dying from communicable diseases as from the tsunami," Dr. David Nabarro, head of crisis operations for WHO, told reporters. The death toll from the earthquake and associated tidal waves is already at 44,000, and officials expect it to rise further. Nabarro said the main threat to life now is communicable diseases associated with a lack of clean water and sanitation. "The initial terror associated with the...

TOKYO - A Japanese firm says it has developed a way to neutralise Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) within 10 minutes through ultraviolet rays to help prevent the spread of the virus which ravaged much of Asia in 2003. Ceramics maker Noritake said the virus, placed in a glass dish covered by a layer of titanium, became 99.9% harmless after being exposed to ultraviolet rays for 10 minutes. After 15 minutes exposure, Sar's effects completely go away, a company statement said. Noritake said the technique, developed by researchers and the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, could be used to clean...

HONG KONG: China hopes to avoid any new SARS outbreaks with a preventative plan that is likely to include a ban on the consumption of civet cats in Guangdong province restaurants. China's vice health minister, Wang Longde, plans soon to travel to Guangdong, where SARS first emerged in late 2002, to finalise plans for avoiding the disease during the coming winter flu season, the pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po newspaper in Hong Kong said. Researchers say the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus might have originated in civet cats and other animals eaten as delicacies in Guangdong. After SARS appeared in...

China hopes to avoid any new SARS outbreaks with a plan that is likely to prohibit the consumption of civet cats in Guangdong province restaurants, a newspaper reported Monday. The mainland's vice health minister, Wang Longde, plans to travel to Guangdong, where SARS first emerged in late 2002, to finalize plans for avoiding the disease during the coming winter flu season, the pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po newspaper said. Researchers say the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus might have originated in civet cats and other animals eaten as delicacies in Guangdong. After SARS appeared in Guangdong, it spread to Hong Kong...

Scientists claim SARS vaccine breakthrough Singapore scientists working to develop an edible vaccine for viruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) have found a breakthrough in milk, media reports said today. Researchers have successfully immunised mice from a virus similar to SARS by feeding them with genetically modified lactic acid bacteria, which is found in cultured milk drinks, the Straits Times reported. This could mean that in a few years, doctors will be able to dispense a SARS vaccine that could simply be eaten or drunk, the principal investigator of the study, Associate Professor Lee Yuan Kun, told the...

'Malaria drug is effective against SARS' September 03 2004 at 06:27PM Brussels - The anti-malaria drug chloroquine could be used to treat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed hundreds of people last year, virologists at the Belgian Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) said on Friday. A research team led by Professor Marc Van Ranst of KUL's Rega Institute for Medical Research found that chloroquine "is active against the SARS coronavirus in laboratory experiments". "Chloroquine could be of great importance as preventive medication for people living in or travelling to SARS-affected areas, and as an antiviral treatment for SARS patients," the...

Galvanized by the SARS epidemic and the spread of avian flu, the Bush administration yesterday issued the first national plan for how the country should prepare for and respond to a pandemic of influenza, should it strike the United States. The plan lays out the public health measures that would be crucial in the event of a flu pandemic, including the emergency production of vaccines, the stockpiling of antiviral drugs, the freeing up of enough hospital beds to care for the sickest, the limiting of public gatherings and the possible imposition of quarantines. But administration officials said they were unable...

07/12/04 -- Human antibodies that thwart the SARS virus in mice can be mass-produced quickly using a new laboratory technique developed by an international research team collaborating with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health. The new technique could become an important tool for developing a cocktail of SARS-specific antibodies that might help protect people recently exposed to the SARS virus or at high risk of exposure. The technique could also make possible the development of a similar approach to prevent or treat other illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C....

Beijing, China, Jul. 5 (UPI) -- The elderly Chinese physician who exposed China's attempted cover-up of the outbreak of SARS is undergoing indoctrination training, the Washington Post said.Sources told the newspaper semi-retired 72-year-old surgeon Jiang Yanyong has been under 24-hour military supervision since June 1.Jiang became a national hero last year making public the government's efforts to hide the SARS outbreak. He also is being censured for denouncing the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy civilians.Authorities have threatened to keep Jiang in custody until he "changes his thinking" and "raises his level of understanding" about the Tiananmen crackdown, said one...

Hero of SARS Crisis Detained Since June 1 BEIJING -- Chinese military and security officials are forcing the elderly physician who exposed the government's coverup of the SARS epidemic to attend intense indoctrination classes and are interrogating him about a letter he wrote in February denouncing the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, according to sources familiar with the situation. The officials have detained Jiang Yanyong, 72, a semi-retired surgeon in the People's Liberation Army, in a room under 24-hour supervision, and they have threatened to keep him until he "changes his thinking" and "raises his level of understanding" about the Tiananmen...

American and European scientists independently reported Thursday that they had protected animals from the SARS virus by two different types of experimental immunizations, raising hopes that they could ultimately be used among humans. One dose of an experimental vaccine sprayed into the nose fully protected a small number of monkeys against SARS, scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., said in a report to be published in The Lancet on Saturday. In the same issue, European scientists reported using a different strategy that involved injections of a human monoclonal antibody, a type of genetically...

Wife Hopes China SARS Hero Will Be Freed-Source BEIJING (Reuters) - The wife of the military doctor who exposed China's SARS (news - web sites) cover-up last year has been released from custody and hopes her husband will also be freed, a source close to the family said Wednesday. Hua Zhongwei returned to their Beijing home late on Tuesday, two weeks after she and her outspoken husband, Jiang Yanyong, disappeared just days before the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, said the source who asked not to be identified. Jiang had upset the authorities after writing to China's top...

Sars hero vanishes in Beijing anniversary swoop By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 04/06/2004) A retired Chinese surgeon who exposed a cover-up over last year's Sars epidemic and demanded the truth about the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown has vanished on the 15th anniversary of the Beijing massacre. Jiang Yanyong, 72, who is also an army colonel, and his wife have not been seen since early on Tuesday, say his children. He is thought to be among hundreds of government critics temporarily "disappeared" before today's anniversary of the bloody military crackdown on student-led democracy protests. The Chinese authorities have stepped up...

China begins testing SARS vaccine on humans May 23 2004 at 10:42AM Beijing - China has started testing a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) vaccine on humans in the latest effort to find a way to protect people from the respiratory disease which killed nearly 800 people and wreaked havoc on the region's economy last year. Four people, aged between 20 and 40, on Saturday were given the vaccine, which has been jointly developed by China's Science and Technology Ministry and the Beijing Kexing Vaccine Company, the Beijing Youth Daily said. They became the first humans to be given the...

20 May 2004 China's Latest SARS Outbreak Has Ended, U.N. Health Agency Says Cause of infections unknown; WHO urges precautions An outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that hit China in March and April is over, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In a May 18 announcement, WHO said the human-to-human transmission chain for the disease appears to be broken now that three weeks have passed since the last appearance of a new case. The WHO statement commends Chinese authorities for swift action in response to the SARS outbreak, saying their actions prove that this highly contagious, sometimes...

SARS Could Spread Via Coughs, Sweat, Urine AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The deadly SARS virus might be more contagious than previously thought and possibly transmitted by contaminated food or water, droplets of mucus, urine, feces and sweat, scientists reported on Friday. Researchers at the Groningen University Hospital in the Netherlands and the First Military Medical University in Guangzhou, China, said their findings emphasized the need for more stringent infection-control measures. The Dutch scientists found receptors that enable the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus to bind to cells in the lungs, kidneys and the lining of the small intestine and on...

SARS virus may spread via sweat, food, sewage, touch: study Thu May 6, 2004 15:11:03 ETThe SARS virus has been found in sweat glands and the intestine, according to a new study, which says that in theory the disease may spread via contaminated sewage, food or even a handshake, not just by airborne droplets. Pathologists from the First Military Medical University in Guangzhou, southern China, warn that if further research proves that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) can be transmitted by these unexpected routes, the implications for public health are major. The results were remarkable, according to their study, which...

5 May 2004 Investigation of the source of the current outbreak, first reported on 22 April, continues to focus on the National Institute of Virology in Beijing. The institute is known to have conducted experiments using the live SARS coronavirus during February and March. Two researchers at the institute developed SARS in late March and mid-April. However, neither is known to have conducted research using the live virus, suggesting some other source of infection within the laboratory or possibly elsewhere. Members of a joint WHO-Chinese investigative team, wearing full personal protective equipment, entered the institute last Friday and again yesterday....

Posted: 04 May 2004 2022 hrs China confirms three more SARS cases By Maria Siow, Channel NewsAsia's China Bureau Chief BEIJING: China has upgraded three suspected SARS cases to confirmed ones, bringing the total number of infected people in the country to nine so far this year. This time last year, China's government was harshly criticised for its initial cover-up of the outbreak. But one year on, the mood in the Chinese capital is more calm this time round. This is evident during the country's one-week long May Day vacations, which started on 1 May. Many holiday-goers are not deterred...

Posted: 02 May 2004 1929 hrs China reports no new confirmed, suspected SARS cases BEIJING : China's health ministry on Sunday reported no new confirmed or suspected cases of SARS for the first first time in five days. During the 24-hour period until Sunday at 10 am (0200 GMT), no change in the current outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome had been detected, the ministry said on its website. This followed an announcement one day earlier that a suspected case had been formally upgraded to a confirmed one, bringing the total to six confirmed SARS patients and three suspected incidents....

Man Tested For SARS In Everett POSTED: 5:57 am PDT April 30, 2004 UPDATED: 5:59 am PDT April 30, 2004 EVERETT, Wash. -- A man is being kept in isolation and tested for possible SARS disease at Providence Everett Medical Center in Everett. Health officer Doctor M. Ward Hinds says it's a precaution and the public has no need for alarm. The man was hospitalized two days ago with a respiratory illness. he had been traveling in China. Tests have been sent to the state Health Department to rule out the contagious disease, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Two more confirmed SARS cases in China amid fears virus could jump borders BEIJING: Two more people have been confirmed as having SARS here, as World Health Organisation experts met Chinese disease control officials amid concern the deadly virus could jump China's borders. The two new patients were previously listed as suspect cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. One was in critical condition, the health ministry said. China now has three confirmed SARS cases in Beijing and one in eastern Anhui province. There are also five suspected cases, four in Beijing and one in Anhui. The latest confirmed cases are...

 Chinese officials have reported a new suspected case of SARS in Beijing over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 7 suspected cases and 2 confirmed. The announcement was made as a World Health Organization (WHO) team began its investigation into how a graduate student was infected with SARS in a Beijing laboratory. WHO teams, including experts in epidemiology, virology, infection control and laboratory bio-safety, would head within a day or two to Anhui and the laboratory where the transmission chain is suspected to have started WHO says around 1,000 people are now being kept in isolation and are...

<p>China Expands Beijing SARS Quarantine to 600 People, AFP Says April 27 (Bloomberg) -- China increased the number of people quarantined in Beijing for possible SARS exposure to almost 600 and is inspecting virology laboratories nationwide, Agence France- Presse said, citing the Beijing Center for Disease Control.</p>

KUALA LUMPUR - China will not ban travel during the upcoming national holiday despite Sars fears, but people should expect screening measures at airports and rail stations, visiting Chinese Vice-Health Minister Zhu Qingsheng said here yesterday. He is visiting Malaysia for talks on health issues. 'I'm sure the May Day holiday will continue,' he said. 'Tourists will continue to travel both in China and outside the country. 'Our airports and ports are taking measures to ensure things are going smoothly.' Millions of Chinese are expected to travel during the May Day vacation starting this weekend, posing a problem for the...

Health officials are investigating another four suspected cases of SARS in China. The cases bring the total number affected to eight, with more expected. All of the cases can be traced to a laboratory at the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China, where the coronavirus that causes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) was being studied. The first person to fall ill, on 25 March, was a 26-year-old female researcher who had worked in the lab.

BEIJING - China on Sunday reported five new suspect Sars cases have been isolated with fever while samples from another woman suspected to have the disease are being tested to confirm whether or not she died from the disease. With a major national holiday just days away, the Chinese government exhorted people in Anhui to 'take immediate action' to prevent the virus from spreading anew. A statement by the Beijing municipal government said two people have been confirmed as having come down with severe acute respiratory syndrome, two people are suspected to have the disease while five out of 13...

China reports 4 new suspected SARS cases (April 25)China reported four new suspected Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) cases for the past 24 hours from 10 a.m. Saturday to 10 a.m. Sunday, according to the Chinese Health Ministry's epidemic surveillance report on SARS released in Beijing Sunday. The four suspected SARS cases were all in Beijing, putting the city's total SARS number to one diagnosed and five suspected ones. No new suspected or diagnosed SARS cases were reported from other places on the Chinese mainland. The Ministry said the four suspected SARS patients have all had close contact with the...

China Reports Two Confirmed SARS Cases 7 minutes ago By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer BEIJING - China reported two confirmed SARS (news - web sites) cases on Friday and said one of two other people suspected of having the disease has died, apparently the first SARS fatality in the country since July. Hundreds of people have been quarantined. The confirmed cases both had worked in laboratories in Beijing for China's Centers for Disease Control and were probably infected there, Xinhua said. They were identified as a 31-year-old man from Beijing and a 26-year-old woman in central Anhui province, the...

A new study suggests that severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) may have been spread through the simple act of flushing a toilet instead of being passed directly from person to person. Even with all the research that has been conducted on SARS in the past year, some mystery still remains as to how the virus can be transmitted. Two articles appearing in the April 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine explore the possibility of airborne and laboratory transmissions. Both scenarios point to new public health measures that should be taken to contain the disease. "Airborne spread of...

China has arrested the former chief editor of a reformist newspaper on charges of embezzlement in an expanding crackdown against perhaps the most aggressive newspaper group in the country. Cheng Yizhong, former editor-in-chief of the Southern Metropolitan Daily and the newly created Beijing News, was arrested early Friday morning. "On March 19 at 2:50am [local time] my husband was detained on charges of embezzlement of state-owned assets," wife Chen Junying said. Mrs Chen and other sources say the arrests are linked to several reports by the Southern Metropolitan Daily, owned by the Southern Daily newspaper group, which may have offended...

TORONTO (CP) - Researchers in a Toronto laboratory have discovered a startling effect of oxygen therapy. It may explain how some people contracted SARS last year, and should be addressed to prevent the spread of other respiratory infections, they say. Using special techniques to create images of exhaled gases exiting from the vents of oxygen masks, the researchers showed plumes of droplets that extended for five metres and beyond on each side of the mask-wearer. If the subject had been a SARS patient getting oxygen, any nurse or other health-care worker who approached the bed from the side would have...