Providers should probably stay away from businessmen who travel to/from Asia until more clarity is established on the mysterious SARS illness.

I find myself becoming paranoid now, just opening up my windows. I hear that they have reports in the US now (small fatality rate, I must add).  

The latest information is that SARS is not due to a paramyxovirus, as originally thought, but instead caused by a corona virus. This is a fully protein-enveloped virus, of the same type as the cold (rhino-) virus.

At any rate, scientists seem to be making good progress in both growing the virus, and have an early diagnostic test. Mostly they're going for quarantining of possible SARS victims until either they die or get better. The good (?) news is that many do recover from the illness, due to their immune systems mounting  successful challenges.

On the bad news side, the Hong Kong physician who originally identified the syndrome has died of it, it may be an airborne virus, and if it is a corona virus, it's not sure if there will ever be an effective vaccine or therapy.

All of the above information is a simple distillation of press reports, as there have been no scientific articles published on SARS as yet (too soon). It should be viewed as preliminary and subject to change.

It started in Canton Province, Mainland China 5 months ago, Now there are 782 confirmed case and 31 death in China alone. Avoid HongKong and Vitnam too.

Out of 3,000,000,000 people in China you say 31 have died. Stop and figure it out. You are much more likely to get run over by car in China than you are to get the disease. For that matter you are more likely to get struck by lightning or killed by a jealous lover. Go for it enjoy the wonderful country. Just because there were 50 people murdered in California last year is that any reason not to visit Los Angeles.

While I am sure sorry for those who have contracted SARS, I find it somewhat ironic that while there have been 100 or so deaths from SARS worldwide in the past several months (give or take), at least that many die EACH DAY in some individual cities from drunk driving or lung cancer. Where's the outrage and postings for these?


Rocket

You are correct in saying that the numbers involved in the SARS epidemic are presently limited, when compared to deaths from drunk driving or smoking.

Nevertheless, SARS may be due to the spread of a completely new virus that may have jumped recently from animals to humans. There are very disturbing reports that SARS may be due to a coronavirus that is "airborne", that is you don't have to be in close contact with SARS victims to become infected. Secondly, many of the later SARS patients are those medical staff who cared for earlier SARS victims.

If you want to see how seriously the medical community views SARS, look at all of the quarantine measures that are being now taken around the world [see Google News (beta version)]. The time to stop a new epidemic is when the numbers are limited, especially when there are no vaccines or effective therapies.

With frequently-traveled air corridors (i.e., the "Global Village"), we are really only 24 hours away from China where SARS originated.

One of great fears of the medical community has been the mutation of the influenza virus into another "killer" virus, such as that which caused the great flu pandemic of 1918 that killed 20 million. The quarantine actions being taken now are intended to insure that such a pandemic doesn't repeat.

I agree with you and fully understand the issue, same as with the West Nile Virus last year. I just find it funny that when something new pops up and kills a few people it is the "talk of the town" for awhile and then dies down, while we still have things (drugs, HIV, alcohol, tobbacco, cancer, etc) that seem to fall by the wayside even though they kill MILLIONS a year. If you've noticed even the war has seemed to lose it's zeal with people and the press.

Rocket

Yes, it's the MTV attention-span problem.

If SARS is indeed caused by a coronavirus, then it is unlikely we'll be developing a treatment (anti-virucide) anytime soon. Just think of all the time we've had to develop a rhinovirus (i.e., cold virus, related to coronavirus) treatment or vaccine, with no success.

Indeed, the absence of a therapy or vaccine is undoubtedly why Hong Kong (high-density apartment block sealed off), Canada (2nd hospital closed) etc. are taking such aggressive quarantine measures.

-- Modified on 3/30/2003 7:58:14 PM

-- Modified on 3/31/2003 9:32:55 AM

Maintain overall good health and physical condition.  Immune system strength typically tracks with overall health.  NOSC, you hit one of the important points when you said "good health depends on rest too."  

The following is meant as advice to a general audience, not any particular individual.

Proper diet and moderate exercise are also important.
Exercising to exhaustion actually weakens the immune system (temporarily) so unless you're training for sport competition, keep it moderate.  This might also be a good time to get off the fast food diet and onto something sensible.  Crash diets are dangerous enough under normal circumstances.  In a time of possible epidemic, the phrase "avoid like the plague" comes to mind.

Wash your hands.  Frequently.  Especially before you eat.

I'm not talking obsessive-compulsive levels of handwashing here, just come up with a routine where you wash your hands thoroughly several times a day, such as thoroughly washing your hands after using the bathroom and before eating (lots of soap, spend some time lathering).

Not only might it help prevent SARS, but there's evidence it will help prevent colds and other common infections.