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To: RealMuLan who wrote (32145)	4/23/2003 12:32:16 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74559

Debunking SARS. To whom does this scare benefits? It is blown well over proportions. Look to the name: severe was not enough. Let loaded with acute. Not enough. Lets put syndrome to have an S in the end of it to remind people of AIDS. SARS has the trade mark of a Y2K type of scare based in non-sense. One day, the virus mutate. The following day the virus attacks the gut too. One is transferred through the air. Next by contact. Followed by cockroaches, then just to be discovered it transferred by the sewage system. Yes, yes. The planes were supposed to fall down on Dec. 31st, 1999. The power plants and the ATM too. Heard it all before. Putting SARS into proper perspective Published on Apr 2, 2003 SARS - a reportedly incurable killer disease that emerged out of southern China late last year - is causing fear and economic damage all around Asia. Stock markets have fallen, sporting events are being postponed, scared tourists are cancelling airline and hotel bookings, and schools have been ordered shut. In Hong Kong and Singapore whole apartment blocks have been quarantined, while in the streets of the two cities people have taken to wearing gloves and surgical masks to protect themselves from infection. According to the latest figures released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 59 people have so far died of the disease known officially as severe acute respiratory syndrome. Another 1,600 in 15 countries are being treated for its symptoms. Driving this near panic is concern that this "super bug" as it is being called could be a repeat of the Spanish influenza that killed more than 20 million people around the world in 1918-19. To date, however, the spread of the disease doesn't appear to support the alarm. It is worth remembering that the regular version of the flu (for which an effective cure also doesn't exist) infects millions of people every year and kills more than 40,000 North Americans alone. Malaria and tuberculosis between them kill almost six million people a year and rat-borne Leptospirosis kills hundreds of people in Thailand every year and yet there is little noticeable public concern about it. Furthermore, most of the people who have died of SARS were doctors and other hospital workers who were in close contact with the initial victims. Still, while there is no reason to panic, there is a need for caution and the governments around Asia, -with the notable exception of China, -have acted prudently to date. For its part, Beijing deserves to be internationally censured for the way it has responded to the disease. The first cases of SARS appeared in Guangdong in mid-November, but it was not until February that Beijing abandoned the news blackout it had imposed on the outbreak. Even now, China refuses to let experts from WHO investigate conditions inside the country. In contrast, the Thai government has ordered passengers arriving on regular flights from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam, who exhibit one or more flu-like symptoms, be quarantined at a prepared building. The Public Health Ministry has also called on all state agencies and private companies not to send employees to high-risk countries. Such increased vigilance makes sense and is encouraging, as is the sharing of information by health authorities around the world. Eleven labs in 10 countries are working at the behest of the WHO to hunt down the agent behind the mystery illness. It may eventually turn out that measures such as quarantining possible carriers were an overreaction. Indeed, the early SARS patients in Hanoi, Hong Kong and Singapore are recuperating well and Vietnam said yesterday that the situation there is under control. Still, the abundance of prudence in the current circumstances is wise.