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To: TobagoJack who wrote (32034)	4/21/2003 10:03:25 PM
From: EL KABONG!!!	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

online.wsj.com After Fumbling by Beijing, Concern Over Virus Rises By PETER WONACOTT Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BEIJING -- China's belated candor about the spread of a lethal strain of pneumonia has been rewarded with the exact response it hoped to avoid: panic. The disclosure that the number of people with severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, is far higher than previously admitted caused a palpable mood swing Monday in the nation's capital and in other cities. Stock markets in Shenzhen and Shanghai fell on SARS fears. A nationwide graduate school exam was canceled, with the Ministry of Education citing the need to preserve "safety and stability" at China's universities. At the Jian Hypermarket drugstore in eastern Beijing, shoppers scooped up 6,000 surgical masks in the morning alone, as crowds clamored in front of clerks who ripped open fresh boxes. "There is a feeling of terror," said Zhou Zhiliang, wearing a blue suit and sporting a fresh surgical mask. The 24-year-old salesman said he felt so uneasy talking to his customers he trudged across town on his lunch hour to find a store with masks still available. Never mind that only 448 out of 13 million people in this city have been infected with SARS. Or that less than 5% of the patients are reported to die from the disease. The government's nationally televised mea culpa Sunday for fumbling a public-health crisis -- and underreporting by nearly tenfold the number of SARS patients in Beijing -- has set people on edge. Monday, Chinese health authorities reported that total SARS fatalities in China rose to 86 while the total number of cases nationwide climbed to 1,959, the World Health Organization said. The new figures raise the death toll in Beijing to 20. The public reaction shows how Beijing lost a delicate balance in its effort to manage SARS. As more cases became known in southern Guangdong and Beijing, officials couched the release of information with assurances that the outbreak was under control. But learning the degree to which they had been misled startled many people -- even those who maintained low standards for government transparency. "SARS? I am thinking of nothing else now," grumbles 66-year-old Shen Zongxing, coming out of a market with an armful of groceries and an herbal medicine prescription to treat the disease. As Mr. Shen loaded his bicycle up with cooking oil, bread and milk to start a self-imposed quarantine, he blasted Beijing city officials for concealing the outbreak. "They've done nothing." But the retired engineer praised central government leaders, such as Premier Wen Jiabao, who last week threatened to punish those who covered up the SARS cases. "Wen Jiabao went to schools and showed his concern to students. It was touching," Mr. Shen said. Still, such sentiments suggest that the government's strategy to pin the blame on certain officials may pay off. While a clearer picture of SARS in China is heightening anxiety on the streets, it isn't prompting calls for sweeping political change, or for an overhaul of the top leadership. Public ire has focused on lower-level officials, and not those who oversaw their work. In a move to assuage such anger, China's health minister was stripped of his party post. And Chinese newspapers reported Monday that Wang Qishan, a former banker and current Communist Party Secretary of Hainan province, would replace Beijing's dismissed Mayor Meng Xuenong. Mr. Wang has been in charge of restoring battered confidence before. In the late 1990s, as vice governor of Guangdong, Mr. Wang helped unwind billions of dollars of debt owed to foreign creditors by the province's bankrupt investment arm, Guangdong International Trust & Investment Corp. But his task in rebuilding government credibility could prove tougher these days, as more Chinese turn to the Internet and satellite television in a backlash against the state-controlled media. Strange rumors -- such as high death tolls at secret hospitals or speculation that SARS is a biochemical weapon unloosed by the U.S. and Taiwan -- have even offered solace to some. "I'd rather believe the worst, so at least I can prepare mentally," said an assistant professor at the People's University in Beijing. "The most frightening thing has been the optimistic tone of the state media." In the climate of uncertainty, other cities are radiating nervousness. In Shanghai, callers to the city's official SARS hotline were greeted with a busy tone most of the day. As in Beijing, thick surgical masks were a hot item. The city has acknowledged only two SARS patients out of 16 million people, including migrant workers. Investors are skittish, too. After the government shortened a weeklong May holiday to three days to stem the spread of SARS, Chinese investors sold aviation and travel stocks. But buyers bid up pharmaceutical stocks, with an analyst saying a 5% average price rise was fueled by blind hope that a Chinese drug company may discover what has eluded the global medical community: a cure for SARS. Also weighing on the mood of investors is the expectation that the government is now less likely to hide bad news, suggesting more is on the way. Says Liu Weijin, analyst in Shenzhen at Guosen Securities: "It would be terrible if other places revised their figures higher, like what happened in Beijing." Write to Peter Wonacott at peter.wonacott@wsj.com. Updated April 22, 2003 KJC

To: TobagoJack who wrote (32034)	4/21/2003 11:53:30 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74559

Why healthy (perhaps too healthy) people start being at mercy of bugs. Jay, we people were born with an immune system which is a defense system. As with any defense system, it needs to be tested once in a while so that it remains effective. The system needs to go out seeking the building blocks of to build anti-bodies, vitamins etc, so that other parts of the body supply them, raise the number of anti-bodies at a fast rate. Burn them out with high temperature and other sort of measures on their arsenal. But people decided that they should avoid anything that's not clean. They employ tons of detergents. They don't live close to dirty, don't let the clean kids mingle with the dirty kids. Slowly that defense system stopped being fit for its purpose. Like someone who has not been to the gym, is totally unfit, and suddenly needs to move houses and discover he's dead tired half way through it and need someone to do it for him. But the bugs, Jay, the bugs haven't been idle. They've been at their business all along. In Africa, LATAM and Asia, all places where high level of hygiene, education and means to buy detergent are not widespread. So the bugs are top fit and combat ready. And while they have been getting better and better at their business, humans have become less and less able to fight. Now the bugs have a field day. Instead of facing a barrage of measures, they walk inside the body and the body just tell them to stop, they forgot what fighting is all about. The bugs ravage the body. In about 1.000 years the people who use detergent to fight germs by the ton, will be extinct and the people whose bodies kept at a higher level of preparedness to fight diseases, will survive. That's how evolution is doing with modern man. It doesn't augur well for people in the North Hemisphere who -apart to be more educated and affluent and can afford tons of detergents- have cold weather, ice and snow to kill the bugs for 9 months. Southern people, who have no winter, have to live with the bugs all year long, and they have bad hygiene habits which in the end make them better prepared for survival.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (32034)	4/22/2003 3:18:57 AM
From: energyplay	Respond to of 74559

Hi Jay - MRSA is old news, but a real problem. It is slow moving, but the response has not been overwhelming. With more attention on health issues now, this issues should also be addressed. Infections are responsible for a significant and growing number of hospital deaths, and extensive hospitalizations. A slow exponential growth that doubles every 300 days will turn into a huge problem if ignored. This isn't being ignored, but underfunded. Not sexy enough medical stuff, like stents for arteries, heart transplants, BOTOX.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (32034)	4/22/2003 3:20:38 AM
From: Box-By-The-Riviera™	Respond to of 74559

CBST might have the answer

To: TobagoJack who wrote (32034)	4/22/2003 9:28:23 PM
From: pezz	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74559

Today's report ; Bought 1 1/2 trenches of PURW @ average 2.30 and 1 1/2 trenches of DGIT average @ 3.34 Sold off 25% of my TRAD @ 4.70 paid 3.83 and 1/3 of my EVOL @ 3.74 paid 3.10 <SARS> Friday morning I go to Big Five Sporting goods store for a fishing license..As I'm filling out the paper work the girl behind the counter ( she's Asian an probably just got back from visiting relatives in Hong Kong ) starts coughing .......Panicked, I back away but it's too late to flee....They got my money and I ain't got the license yet. She keeps coughing and covering her mouth ...Yeah like that'll work...I rush home and take a shower... The next morning I wake up with a dry cough. I go to Rite Aid and get a $15 digital thermometer ....Fortunately no fever...It's a regular chest cold and I live on .