SARS

Lets just say that riding the subway just got a lot less crowded. Its bump the war of the front page for the past week.

That said, I am not especially frightened of SARS yet- it may be highly contagious but the death rate seems relatively tame compared to many of the other threats occupying center stage of my imagination these days.

my mother, who I'm flying home to visit in april, is trying to pursuade me to wear a surgical mask on the plane because of SARS. same mother who packed vegetables no one'd ever heard of in my lunches at daycamp, while everyone else had lunchables. kholrabi, anyone?

oh teeny dont worry. i'll be fine. i already bought a small packet of surgical masks here in bangkok for like $2. they even have a burberry trim. ha!

This prolly will kill today's rally in stock price:

"News Alert: American Airlines Plane From Asia Quarantined on Tarmac With Four Suspected Cases of Mystery Illness On Board"

I'm am pretty upset about this whole thing - and rather disgusted that it's not getting more coverage. Of course, I've been reading all sorts of charming books about the Influenza epidemics and the various plagues that swept round the world, so maybe I'm jut oddly paranoid at the moment.

It's not surprising that stuff is arising in China, though - the proximity of humans, pigs, and chickens makes a ripe breeding ground for transmission and mutation of avian virus' to virus' that affect humans.

So, um - aren't they saying that SARD is a virus?

Mutation of the common cold is the last I read. At this point I dunno, Im just trying to stay out of the way of sneezing people.

Depends on who you ask.

Something to do with cutting back on the inhaled siliva transfered from hacking and coughing by the sick folk would be my guess.

The UN eh? Freaky. I should go poke around to see who does other then us and our southern neighbours.

Viruses and bacteria are both individually too tiny to be stopped by any sort of typical fabric mask. The trick is this - to travel from host to host, a virus or bacteria has to ride on a droplet of moisture, like the kind that you expel in a sneeze or cough. While not a perfect defense, a simple stretch of fabric over your mouth will prevent most diseases from entering your respiratory tract. For example, if we were attacked using biological weapons, there have been tests with rodents that have proven that a double layer of T-shirt fabric held over the mouth and nose stands an extremely good chance of saving your life. As they say with the 4/4 backbeat, it's cliché for a reason.

(anecdotal remark overheard concerning these experiments: it's a bitch getting folded fabric to stay on a mouse's face)

Tracer's right too - the fatality rate is still a lot lower than some other things you can catch.

Steve McCroskey: Johnny, what can you make out of this?
[Hands him the weather briefing]
Johnny: This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl -

the proximity of humans, pigs, and chickens makes a ripe breeding ground for transmission and mutation of avian virus' to virus' that affect humans.

lame.

:-D

;-D

I just heard on the radio that the Australian government has advised it's people not to travel to HK, China , Vietnam or Laos. Take care Phil!

Go Ulaan Bator, Irkusk, Almaty. Although I've always wanted to see Kashgar, I've no idea whats there but it holds a sort of mythical place in my immagination, as most of central asia does. Have you read the Peter Hopkirk books?

Yes, everything is normal here.

Though between SARS and me eating a street sausage people thought I was a nut.

I'm trying not to get too upset on the subway...people have always come onto the subway while they're sick and coughing up a lung, that's just the joy of living in an urban centre where people rely on transit to get to work or the doctor. Unfortunately now everyone is a bit more wound up than usual and people are afraid to cough. When I eat sugar or drink beer I get a bit congested in the lungs and have to cough, even though I don't get SICK, but now I'm worried that if I go on a sugar bender people will think I'm some sort of vector. But hey, if that clears a circle around me then maybe that's not so bad.

This makes a lot of sense. Maybe it would be a good thing if this caught on here in the States, especially for people who are sick but still come in to the office. It's like "Yes, you are such a dedicated employee, but you could please not breathe when I'm around."

i always thought that had something to do with the pollution in the area.

and as for toronto, the situation is getting blown a touch outta proportion. i mean we had our fap last week without the transmition of a single disease.
er...
ya.

"I am going to claw everyone of you TO DEATH"

Masked palm civets have short fur that can be brown, orange, red or gray, with black bands on the head and feet. They eat mostly fruit, weigh up to 13 pounds and have bodies that grow up to two-and-a-half feet long, with tails of nearly equal length.

Judging from their activity and feeding habits, infected civets do not appear to feel any ill-effects from the virus. Only a small number of civets have been tested so far. Professor Yuen declined to say precisely how many, but most seemed to have the virus.

It is possible that the disease originated in another species and then spread to the civets, he said at a news conference this afternoon, while adding that he believed that the disease came to people from civets. While no tests have been done, it is also "theoretically possible" that household cats could become infected, as they are very similar biologically to civets, Professor Yuen added.

The raising and slaughter of civets and other exotic animals should be strictly regulated to prevent further outbreaks of SARS and possibly other new diseases, he said, while contending that a total ban on consumption of them could not succeed. "It is very difficult to stop a culture; it has been there for 5,000 years," he said.

There is nothing strange about the Sars coronavirus, they said; it certainly evolved from other known viruses.

One leading expert said Professor Wickramasinghe's letter "must be a joke"; another said it is simply ridiculous.'

surely it is the Professor's name that is the joke here?!@@

THEY GOT THE DISEASE BECAUSE THEY WERE EATING KITTENS DO YOU SEE?

GOD IS A TWEE BASTARD

AIDS - mysterious lethal disease whose appearance is attributed to a virus spontaneously "jumping" from one species to another

I need to not be so paranoid.

I for one am massively impressed by the way knowledge and research data about this disease has travelled through the international medical community. I think the way this has been handled by the WHO etc. is nothing short of amazing, really. Look at where we years ago with regard to similar new illnesses. Like Wow.