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Damn, that thing is pretty bad isn't it? The death total has reached over 350, and 12 died today (April 29th). Started in China, now stretching out to other neighboring countries, including New Zealand.

So, what are your views about the disease? No doubt that you'll all think it is horrible.

yeah!!! i don't wanna visit toronto anymore!! i think they should quarantine the city!! *nod nod*
i know ush doesn't think it's a big deal... -_-' but i do!! i sure don't wanna catch it, or pass it along to my parents or smthg!!! @_@

its the end of the world.

it is overrated

It is a nonsense. It is the worst killer outbreak ever- worst as in most feeble. As I keep telling you, Narcil, you are about 100 times more likely to be run over on the way to the airport than catch SARS in Toronto, let alone die of it.

It's not nice, obviously, but it has been blown way out of all proportion.

What is SARS? I heard of it before but forget what it's all about.

Yeah, 6,000,000,000,000 people in the world and only 350 cases, the drama queen media has blown yet another story way out of proportion.

But everytime I sneeze, I'm convinced I have SARS

Don't sneeze this way.

Shut Up Corran! Go praise me in my 'Tex the Sexy' thread

Been there already.

does anyone else notice that in China there is a rapid death toll, but in the US, no one has died from it....perhaps based on a countries medical technologies that makes this not as horrible a disease as everyone makes it out to be.

Alright, here's what SARS is for those that don't understand the disease,
Reasons for the death tolls is that SARS is very much like the Ebola Virus, it gets into your cells and plays with your DNA changing it slightly, and in some cases of strands the people's white antibodies can't detect there is a problem within the cells. Some DNA strands can figure out something is not right, and this also is most, and WHO has discovered which of the strands are more suceptable to SARS.

Also if you want another comparison on how the vaccine they are attempting to make will be like, it will be like the small pox vaccine. They will insert some of the virus into your DNA, and it will alter your strand to reconginze the abnormality that SARS produces. So that your white blood cells with be able to understand that SARS is in your system.

My friend's dad is a really big scientist, and she was telling me how it all works....again, my friend is not normal...she has an IQ of 160 and last summer was paid by the government to further her reasearch on something to do with oceanology...so I can assure everyone that I do know a little of what I am talking about.

Once place you've never been is the shower

That will teach you for trying to shut down my praise thread

That was aimed at Corran, not you PS.

I think its spreading in China cause they are crowded like Corran, I mean rats.

Why you little...

Thank you Padme for explaining SARS....they hope to have a vaccine for the disease w/in 2 years

hahah, that is another reason, but it's not through the air, it's through saliva....and human fluids, like cold sores

terrible thing. And it's in toronto also...where i'm going this summer..eek!
i had a little tiny thought it might have been artificialy made.....i don't know.

Not sure there will be a vaccine too quickly, after all it is somewhat related to the common cold and we have not found a vaccine for that yet. Admittedly the common cold is no where near as deadly but we still do not have a vaccine after many years.

thousands of years ago, the common cold was deadly, heck even a hundred years ago it was, but immune systems change, and we adapt, or we die. Just as this probably will happen.

What we'll die!

still is a little bit overrated

no, we'll adjust

probably....but many could die b/f it's all over

yea Julie

sad......isn't it....

yes it is

Hang on, I think it is misleading to compare it to Ebola Virus. I am sure your definition is scientifically correct but that could mis-represent how dangerous this disease is. Ebola kills almost everyone who catches it. This only kills about six people in 100, mostly elderly or otherwise ill.

Globally, it is a non-event. It will pass. Compare malaria, which kills more people in Africa each day than SARS has in its entire lifepsan.

I was comparing the way the ebola affects your system, not the virus itself

but dually notedf.

I would still avoid the cities the WHO have put off limit, even if the risk isn't as high as is being suggested.

Watch out for the andromeda strain!!!!

This may be it! :O

I don;t see what the point of avoiding Toronto is, though, as all its sick are confined. Mind you I heard Toronto had been remoeved from the list after some thought. Haven't checked that yet, though

If I had a choice to go to Toronto or Vancouver - I would probably go to the latter.

There is no point in exposing yourself to risk, regardless of how small that risk maybe.

Yet you cross the road every day. The risk is SO negligible as to be not worth your while.

The WHO seems to have thought different.

Maybe we should rename this the Crappy Diseases thread.

What are the symptoms of SARS, PS?

But the WHO made a mistake, Raz. They have lifted the ban already and the head of the WHO has said they may have erred.

It was clearly premature.

aids is worse.

No duh, BF. It keeps you from getting laid.

not that i have to worry abou that right now anyways

Why not? Still emotionally damaged from that last *****?

well, kinda. plus im lazy and dont know how to meet chicks really.

Same here. Sux doesn't it? Well, at least we have computers and video games to entertain us.

and a right hand.

symptoms are supposedly like the flu, a high fever and bad pains...that's what's so strange about it

And unsprisingly respiratory problems...

yea

that doesn't sound like fun

nope

How many people worldwide have this so far??????I forget

I have no idea

over 3000 definately but I really don't remember

wow, 3000? last time on the news it was like 1000.

really and when was this??????

It must be spreading more rapidly now. They have just found out that SARS can stay out of the body and in the air for about a week.

Plus can reinfect people. Nothing new there. The common cold does the same thing.

There are now about 6,000 infected and over 400 deaths. This can become the Andromeda if they don't watch out. Personally I think it's already out of control.

meh,

the what????

Not even CLOSE, Maul...

hot damn, this sars is really bad. if they can't get it to stay in one place then what'll happen.

Well according to the new this morning the infection is about 6K people worldwide and 460+ people dead. That was as of this morning at about 6 a.m.

Also the disease is spreading into the Chinese countryside and now there is rioting because of government actions in some really remote areas.

We all heard about Berkeley not allow students from infected countries of Asia attending class starting this summer.

It's gonna get worse before it gets better. Especially now they know SARS can survive outside a host for about a week in the air. You don't even have to touch an infected person or be near one to get it.

What will happen? Infected people on planes carrying the disease far and wide.

That is the major concern of WHO and the CDC.

my uncle (who's a doctor), says this sars is highly overrated

Of course it is a major concern for the WHO, this sort of thing is their job. What it is NOT is some sort of super-killer virus and it isn;t even close to being out of control. China have messed up but just about everyhwere else containing it has been easy.

Like I said before, not to ignore those who have died of it but in the long term this will be as nothing. The true killers- malaria, cholera, even pneumonia- will carry on with far deeper consequences.

disease not good:-(

I must agree with my dear Julie

Malaria, Cholera, and the various forms of Pneumonia have been around for thousands and thousands of years infecting and killing humans. The problem with SARS is that it is an "emerging virus". It is related to the common cold and the flu but still different. Still new. That is why it is spreading like wildfire in China and a few other places who have been lax in health and hygiene and prevention on the governmental level. But eventually it will spread to other areas. The U.S. and Europe have not been hit yet on a mass scale because we were on the alert and on time, but that does not mean that it can't get away from us. All you need is a few people who are infected to start "running amouk" and start infecting large groups of people. THis is what happened in China. That man with diarrhea that infected two buildings in a housing complex is a good example. Here in NYC we have tenements like that. Leaking pipes and other high risk nasty occurrences. That is the reason people are staying away from China town here in NYC and across the country. Those people are constantly traveling back and forth to China, Taiwan, Taipei, etc.

Malaria, Cholera and Pneumonia actually kill enough of the people they infect for them to be worried about.

I repeat, in the long term this disease will be as nothing. Hysteria about it may end up being a bigger problem than the disease itself- and that is the opinion of every medical expert I have seen interviewed on the subject.

though a trip to China isn't exactly clear thinking
(though the chances of you getting it are small, don't tempt faith)

LOL!! The best thing is not to go to these places, but the Chinese go for business and for family so that will be difficult to convince them not to go over there.

As for SARS hysteria, true there is hysteria that is natural under the circumstances. It should be treated with respect. There is always people with the cavalier idea that they are either immune and/or there is no real threat. People in some ways thought the same way about AIDS. In fact, the asian AIDS meltdown is just beginning because they had the cavalier attitude and the arrogance to think that only gay men get this disease. So they went ahead with the freewheeling prostitution on every level and now there is an explosion of AIDS cases in Asia. Especially in the Far East. About 3 years ago China had admitted an explosion of AIDS cases because they were of the thought that AIDS did not exist in their country. The same is happening in the rest of Asia and the Middle East.

So a cavalier attitude about any disease is very dangerous. That's how it really spreads.

SARS like the common cold can be caught through being in the same room with someone without touching them. In the case of the housing complex in China it was one infected man with a bad diarrhea case. BANG!!! 300 people in the complex was infected and the entire place quarantined.

lots of doctors say it's all overrated...
and the only problem with sars is that's its like a common cold, always changing its appearance (well, don't know the exact word in english), if they fix that, it's solved

now doctors think sars could be deadlier than we think. lets hope it doesn't get out.

yea

The problem is...

SURPRISE!!!! :O

SARS has already gotten out. What the WHO and CDC and other places that are infected are trying very hard to contain it. Trying to keep people from moving around too much. The other countries now are try to stop a major spread of this disease through international travel. Planes and boats and buses and the like. Planes are the worst because of the recycled air. Remember the Norwalk virus outbreak on cruise ships. What a horror. All surfaces were infected. ALL. It took the industry MONTHS to disinfect their ships. Even though we haven't heard about it anymore doesn't mean it doesn't exist anymore. Now that was an epidemic even though it stayed with cruise ships. So Viruses cannot be taken for granted. Especially the very very virulent ones. Nasty buggers.

Well the WHO is an organization branched off of the United Nations, and there are many organizations that are exactly like the WHO that are also competing for the UN's money to support their causes. It's like the FBI and CIA, 9/11 could have been avoided had they shared their information, but they didn't. Why? Because each organization is comepeting for government support. So they figure the one with the most information gets the most money.....think of this and the WHO.

everytime anyone mentions the WHO the lyrics 'people try to put us down, just cos we g-g-get around' go through my head. sorry just needed to mention that.

LOL!!! I do the same thing Corran!

As for the CIA and the FBI and the NSA concerning 9/11... that is what we are told. We will never know the truth about that situation. How do we know the CIA and the FBI aren't the fall guys and cover for a more evil and sinister reason why that happened.

Anyway back to SARS. Why just China initially? How do we know that SARS isn't something that got away from them and now it's cascaded?

How do we know this isn't a "test"?

At this moment the count is 7,000+ infected and over 500 dead.

A "test"? Geez, MW, you are getting way off the planet there... it's an outbreak of a serious disease. It happens every so often. A few years time people will struggle to remember it ever happened.

true...except for the families affected

Sure in the "natural world" but humans live in an unnatural world and the world of their making.

Being that SARS is related to the common cold and the flu then it is not farfetched to assume that this is a microbe that got away from the labs. We are never hear about these things. Perfect altered microbe and of course they would "watch" to see how it moves and tracks through the populaiton and how long it takes to get around the world. The severity and the rapidity of the spread of this disease in this one country is amazing. I am sure the WHO and the CDC have had the thought cross their minds and desks. Regardless of who is funding them.

It is good and safe to assume the farfetched sometimes because it may just be the truth of the situation.

That's bad logic. Never assume the unlikely without good cause.

Diseases suck!

This is true.

See, that's the way you get Ush to agree with you.
Keep it simple and to the point.
That way he cant attack your logic

All disease suck. Especially since we are on the infected end.

But nature has it's reasons and the more exotic killers are just out for that... destruction. Exotic killers like Ebola, Marburg, Crimean Congo, Machupo, Lassa, EEE, WEE, Hanta and a few other wolves are out there waiting to pounce. The CDC calls them emerging pathogens. Some reduce the body to bones and liquid, i.e. the three Ebolas and Marburg. AIDS is a slow burner by comparison, but still a dangerous pathogen. In fact, Ebola and Marburg will do to the human body in 5 days what AIDS will take a year to do. But Humans are careless and unclean and that what causes diseases like SARS to spread so rapidly. It is a derivative of the common cold and the flu. Our habits cause the pandemics.

Ebola, of course, is no good as a disease by its very nature- it kills too fast.

So what do you think is a good disease Ush?

aids

Flu.

Ebola is a disease (good or bad). There are people who have survived the "slate wiper" strain of Ebola. Ebola Zaire which kills 90% of the people infected by it. From the survivor vaccines can be made. Just like any other disease. The Flu and the common cold are successful because they are rapid mutators which is why making vaccines is nearly impossible. SARS is the same.

The 3 Ebolas can mutate fast like viruses do, but they also kill more rapidly.

hm...

hm???

speak up. *does vulcan mindmeld.* Give me your thoughts.

Don't worry about Ebola hitting the U.S. It already has and the strain is called Ebola Reston. (Reston Va.) The town it was discovered in.

sorry about this but it's ironyhttp://www.rotten.com/library/medicine/epidemics/sars/

I hate links. Just say what's on you noodle!

Anyway I heard now that the health officials are saying that the nation's hospitals are NOT ready nor will they be able to deal with an outbreak of SARS should it hit the USA the way it's amplifying in China. Not good.