alek0

Can anyone explain to me why the panic?
And panic is the right word here, people wearing masks etc.

Here is info from WHO:
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2003_03_24B/en/

Apparently it is fatal in about 3% fo the cases, the only trouble is that there is no effective treatment for it. But considering a) there are 8 million people in this city and about 260 are sick b) illness is fatal in 3% of cases c) the illness appears to spread by droplets and it is mainly confined to medical personnel and family members of the sick I don't see why is there such a fuss over it...

There are far worse and more contagious illnesses, so what's the big deal?

LostGirl

It's newly emerged from an virus family that has a long established hold in homo sapiens- that's scary, right? While it doesn't have a high mortality rate, it is lethal sometimes. And it is spread by aerosol droplets - not terribly effectively, but it is possible. And, being viral in nature and new to us, we don't have effective treatment (what anti-viral drugs we have are terribly specific, just like vaccines are).

So, it's new, it's killing the weak, and we can't do anything about it.

it's . . . [cue scary voice]the plague!!!!

Well, maybe not.
I'm not so worried about SARS (which, funnily enough, is the name of a popular moderator at some of my favourite internet places); but if this is a newly mutated virus it might not be that stable in its present form. It could mutate again into something more virulent - either in its present animal vector before being passed onto humans, or by mutating while in this cycle of infections. Probably not, since it's not that likely, but still. It's a little shivery.

charlie d

Actually, there is reason for serious concern. It is unfortunate that this epidemic coincides with a war, because this is potentially far more dangerous than any terroristic threat, let alone what Saddam Hussein could actually do to us. Hopefully, not everybody is being distracted by what's going on in Iraq.

This is a highly contagious, airborne virus, with very high morbidity and lethal in a significant fraction of the infected people (so far, 17 out of about 500, or 3%, with many of the victims being otherwise healthy adults). Imagine something that spreads just like, and almost as efficiently as, the common cold, sends all its victims to the hospital, many to the ICU on respirators, and kills 3% of infected people (incidentally, the recent finding that this virus may belong to the coronavirus family, also involved in the common cold, makes this not so far-fetched). This is potentially very scary.

Good info is on the CDC site, here.

Primordial Groove

Still not worried?



How many hospitals need to shut down before we should worry?

MadKally

Concern over international spread.
The first concern WHO has regarding travel is the possibility that the disease will spread rapidly and become established in many countries around the world. The extent to which this is happening is being monitored by heightened surveillance for SARS symptoms around the world and rapid reporting of suspected cases.

When 17 people died on three continents, there was concern over it becoming a worldwide pandemic. They needed to find out exactly what it was, where it originated, etc. There was plenty of reason for concern. There is always something much worse. So far...

Malaria kills a child every 30 seconds. From (WHO) World Health Organization. Since it's mostly in Africa, it doesn't concern many people here. More of an epidemic rather than pandemic.

ps418

Deadly virus effortlessly hops species, Genetic engineering helps reveal origin of deadly 'flu'

ps418

Killer pneumonia may spread through air

Jamie_L

Right, it's the contagiousness of this that is scary.

I get sick at least once per year, sometimes more. It's no big deal, because I stay at home for a day or two, then I'm better.

Now, imagine if it sent me to the hospital with a life-threatening illness.

And for anyone who is a parent, it's even worse. Kids get sick even more often, and bring everything home to you.

The thought of a cold that can kill you, even if the chance is small, is pretty darn scary.

If the war wasn't distracting us, this would be all over the news, and people would be panicking big time.

Jamie

pz

For some perspective: the worldwide flu pandemic that killed roughly 50 million people in 1918 had a mortality rate of 2.5%. SARS has a mortality rate of 3-4%, and seems just as contagious. This is a disease that could easily lead to the death of 10-100 million people in the next year or so, if it becomes widespread.

It's not time to panic, but it is time for health officials to do everything they can to keep it from becoming widespread.

Wyz_sub10

The problem is that most hospitals do not have adquate service contigency plans to deal with these types of situations.

Here in Toronto, they have cancelled all elective surgeries and have restricted visitations to terminally ill or critical patients.

This caught the system off-guard and it is quickly reveling itself to be inadequate in being able to handle such situations.

There are so many factors to consider when an virus begins to spread as this one has. I suspect there will be a few consulting opportunities for yours truly once these gaps are succinctly identified and the system realizes it needs to plan for future episodes.