OT: SARS

[Epaminondas]

SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome):

WHO

CDC

[snuffysbluff]

Good to be aware of these things, E.

I had a friend who had to be taken to the emergency ward a month or so ago because she couldn't breathe and had a high fever. It was a close one. She isn't an international traveler but maybe they should have looked at it closer.

She was diagnosed with severe respiratory infection and is close to recovery the last I heard.

[Gregg]

WHO came up with this aconym? As long as they were being redundant, why not call it Severe Critical Acute Respiratory Syndrome? Then at least it would spell something!

[krissel]

Latest briefing by CDC.

Interesting parts from the briefing:

 

quote:  the centers of this outbreak so far have been in Hong Kong and in Hanoi, and it was started in the Guangdong Province in China. The individuals who have been infected all have recently traveled in these areas or had contact with individuals who had traveled there. There have been no cases reported to date that have not followed this pattern. However, with the ease of international travel, it is a possibility that there may be some cases that appear in the United States, most likely in individuals who probably fall into the pattern of transmission that we've seen so far.
 

quote: We know that the disease is so far limited to people who have had very close contact with cases. Most of the individuals are health care personnel who have been in direct contact with either the patient or body fluids from the patient. We also know that household contacts are at risk, particularly if they've had direct and sustained contact with sick individuals.

So far the cases are limited, as Secretary Thompson said, to individuals who have either lived in parts of Asia that are affected, or who have recently traveled from those areas.

quote: We also know that there is no evidence so far that persons not in direct contact with suspect cases are at risk. We have not identified any people with casual contact or indirect contact. I think we were reassured by the investigation here in Georgia, where there was an individual who acquired this infection presumably from family members, was here in this city while sick, was involved in activities that involved exposure to others in a workplace setting, and there is no evidence of spread from that kind of contact in the workplace.