Yiwu,
From what I can tell, the coronavirus family contains the common cold, about as common a virus as one can find. SARS is a mutated form, and there is no doubt other dangerous mutations have occured before. It is a long way from 1995 to 2002.
The issue is not really where it started as it could have started anywhere in the world, but it is rather why it was kept quiet for so long. Even the ruling powers in China has lost patience with the bureaucrats who bungled this. It is a good sign that all the governments now want to fight this with everything they have. I say, GOOD!
I have no issue with the geography of where it happened, but I have serious problems with who tried to cover it up. I also have some impatience for the hospital bureaucrats in the original site in Scarborough Grace Hospital in Toronto where the WHO bulletin on the original ARS was apparently missed when the first patient showed up and infected all the initial cases. Inept bungling, I can sort of understand, but deliberate cover up is criminal, and some day, the names of all those in GuangDong and Beijing responsible for this coverup will likely be held up in posterity as the history of this disease unfolds. THAT is one way to be famous the next century or so.
I assume, at this stage, there is some RNA combo in the SARS virus that is now part of the virus gene pool and whether it mutates to become worse or mutates and dies out is probably random chance. Whether we are lucky or not is not likely within our control, as it is also very possible, this is now part of the landscape and will not go away easily. Unless we get really lucky and dodge this one.
If I think back far enough it seems that one theory of germ-warfare or biological weapon of choice was to produce a mutation of the common-cold that almost matches the characteristics of SARS. Curious. |
