SARS Here To Stay

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-04-10 07:02pm

Well it seems according to the WHO and CDC that SARS, the virus that has suddenly and mysteriously appeared from the Far East, is beyond any quarantine measures now thanks to the Chinese cover-up.

It may not be spreading as easily to the West yet, but it looks like Israel is getting cases and the Middle-east and Africa may be next due to bad sanitary conditions.

Along with HIV, it seems to be with us now and won't be going anytime soon (a possible vaccine is at the very least a year or two away).

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-04-10 08:15pm

The WSJ reported this when it the story was first breaking out, damn I was pissed. The PRC knew about this for months and didn't inform anyone.

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2003-04-10 08:20pm

phongn wrote:The WSJ reported this when it the story was first breaking out, damn I was pissed. The PRC knew about this for months and didn't inform anyone.

That's because Influenza kills more people a month than this thing has, if I remeber correctly.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-04-10 08:21pm

Got to love the Chinese. Thanks you commie bastards.

You got to love a government so secretive and prideful they'll let a deadly virus loose on the world rather than loose face.

You know what's really weird though, there's a girl in China I talk to over the 'net. She was telling me about a serious flu epidemic in her city a few months ago before any outside China had heard of SARS and it turns out that's what it was. Weird.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-04-10 09:15pm

Stupid government. I'm just glad I didn't catch it when I was in China over Spring Break.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2003-04-10 09:21pm

I heard today i think they said in Toronto one fucking idiot who got SARS went to work anyway,now all of his coworker have been quarantine,if they survive this he will get the butt-kicking of his life.

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 2003-04-10 09:23pm

Straha wrote:
phongn wrote:The WSJ reported this when it the story was first breaking out, damn I was pissed. The PRC knew about this for months and didn't inform anyone.
That's because Influenza kills more people a month than this thing has, if I remeber correctly.

Yeah, they didn't think it was that bad.

Hell, the plague kills more a day in China than this has so far in China.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-04-10 09:37pm

It was around during November, a leading doctor called Liu Jianlun, 64, heard from the gov't about this new emerging disease showing pneumonia like symptons in Guangdong province, everything else was classified from him.

Anyway, he goes to inspect it, is shocked by the bug and decides to take action but the gov't doesn't want anything done before the New Year in China.

The doctor goes to the Metropole hotel, he develops a fever and collapses before anyone can help him, he's dead. This was patient 0.

Luckily for the bug, he infected at least 9 others at the hotel who then went to Singapore, Canada and Vietnam as well as the rest of HK.

Fast forward to 10 February, 2003 and the ProMed bulletin board on the Net catches a glimpse of this cover-up. They broadcast this bug on their site and coincidentally, China owns up saying they have a problem to the WHO (this isn't the first time a gov't has owned up after ProMed busted them, any nation would do this, even the US and UK).

By the 15 March the WHO issues a global alert about SARS as it is now known, but it is too late to contain it, already over 1000 cases have been found by then (it's now well over 2000 in China alone). Had it been gotten to before it exited the confines of the peasant areas and hospitals, then it could have been stopped much like Ebola outbreaks.

Now it is feared that this thing will stay with us like HIV has, what's worse, the virus appears to be one that is very apt at mutating and adapting to become more virulent.

I'm tired now, but I'll leave on this note. Many people I have chat to about this seem defiant against the media for their over exploitation of a relatively mild bug since nothing else is breaking the news like the war in Iraq. It has, afterall, only a 3.7% mortality rate that is far below that of Ebola (50-90%) and HIV (95%+). But bare this in mind, it is airborne, not as bad as Flu, but enough so that proximity to patients is a bad idea without protection. That and the 1918 Spanish Flu also had a mortality rate of around 4% and started off small like this.

Read that as you will.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2003-04-10 10:52pm

In a word....
Bugger.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-04-11 12:45am

Don't everybody love the commies?

*gets in the secret HAB bunker*

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2003-04-11 01:52am

Well, i've got a cold now...(middle of April...don't ask...)...but at least it's not SARS...poor guys over in Asia and Canada...

Post by **Beowulf** » 2003-04-11 02:04am

Nathan F wrote:Don't everybody love the commies?

*gets in the secret HAB bunker*

*waits for Nathan to notice that he's in a bunker with the NKVD*

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-04-11 02:11am

My sister's heading to Toronto...as of right now...

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-04-11 02:12am

Dalton wrote:My sister's heading to Toronto...as of right now...

Relax. Generally speaking, the fatalities from SARS are people who were old, feeble, and already in hospital for some other condition when they got it. Many people have gotten it, spent some time in hospital, recovered, and gone home already.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-04-11 02:17am

California has reported something like 30 cases so far. Don't know about deaths.

I did have something like a cold and for a while thought of the possibility of it being SARS but after it disappeared a couple of days later I dismissed the possibility.

Still, SARS has California too now.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-04-11 02:19am

My parents are a little worried about flying to London for my sister's wedding due to the reports, but it seems that it's rarer than it sounds.

But I can't say that I'm not still a little worried about it.

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-04-11 02:21am

Darth Wong wrote:
Dalton wrote:My sister's heading to Toronto...as of right now...
Relax. Generally speaking, the fatalities from SARS are people who were old, feeble, and already in hospital for some other condition when they got it. Many people have gotten it, spent some time in hospital, recovered, and gone home already.

OK, but she's getting over a cold right now. *shrug* I suppose I shouldn't worry - but mom joked about packing a facemask!

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-04-11 02:23am

I thought the effects of SARS resembled the flu, not colds... I havent had the flu for at least 6-7 years.

Or are my colds just different than other peoples?

Grand Moff Yenchin · Post by **Grand Moff Yenchin** » 2003-04-11 02:26am

Yeah over here in Taiwan I've heard that some guys are already cured, though they might still be carriers for at least 6 months. Our Health Bureau was foolish in handling the quarantine too late, but so far nothing very serious has happened....well at least WHO fucked us

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2003-04-11 02:33am

Don't worry about SARS, we all died of anthrax months ago anyway, or weren't you listening to the shrill alarmist news reports of the time?

Post by **Edi** » 2003-04-11 02:59am

SARS fatality rate is somewhere around 2-4% and 80% of the prime of their life fatality cases were already suffering from some other disease or condition that made them more susceptible. Yes, SARS is contagious. Yes, it's a health hazard. But no, it is not ebola. It's likely also going to mutate itself out of existence sooner or later and become just another strain of less lethal flu.

Edi

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2003-04-11 11:50am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I thought the effects of SARS resembled the flu, not colds... I havent had the flu for at least 6-7 years.

Or are my colds just different than other peoples?

A lot of people think the flu is a stomach illness. Others think that influenza is the official name for the cold. They are all mistaken, but it sounds like you know this.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-04-11 11:56am

phongn wrote:The WSJ reported this when it the story was first breaking out, damn I was pissed. The PRC knew about this for months and didn't inform anyone.

Fucking communists

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-04-11 12:00pm

MKSheppard wrote:
phongn wrote:The WSJ reported this when it the story was first breaking out, damn I was pissed. The PRC knew about this for months and didn't inform anyone.
Fucking communists

As if that's new. Remember how the Soviets tried to cover up Chernobyl?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-04-11 12:13pm

Darth Wong wrote:
MKSheppard wrote:
phongn wrote:The WSJ reported this when it the story was first breaking out, damn I was pissed. The PRC knew about this for months and didn't inform anyone.
Fucking communists
As if that's new. Remember how the Soviets tried to cover up Chernobyl?

Or in the '70s when there was a massive outbreak of Anthrax which was also found in food in a Russian province. The US and UK investigated but as this was the Cold War, they couldn't do too much.

The Soviets said it was a natural occurence. Yeah, all four different strains of Anthrax artificially moulded into one single, more powerful strain happens everyday in the microbe world. Their bioweaponeers need better containment, methinks.

I don't want to sound alarmist over this, right now it isn't too bad this SARS, but it's when people here laugh this off as just another bug to disappear within a month.

Their false assumptions are already shot down using simple historical comparisons.