Sars

[Malcor Sylverwood]

Watching the Dead Zone tonite, it was about a contagious and lethal disease, got me to thinking about the whole SARS thing. And I was thinking about now that SARS doesn't appear to be a huge threat, how people scoff at it. Anyway, its late and I'm too lazy to look things up. But said that it had a low death rate, for the sake of argument lets say 1%. But, what wasn't known was how communicable it was and whether they could treat it, yes?

So, lets say they can't cure it, and its highly communicable. Using a low number of 6 billion people, lets say a quarter of the people in the world get it. At the 1% fatality rate, thats suddenly 15,000,000 dead. Anyway, things like that just seemed insane as I was running numbers in my head. So, I need you to come blow this stuff away....please? ;)

-Malcor "Who's counting" Sylverwood

[Anita Blake]

i think the mortality rate for sars was about 4%, which sounds like a lot, but those likely to die were people who were old and/or had respiratory problems already (ie, asthma). The big deal with it wasn't it's potency, or really even the communicability, though the communicability was part of the fear, but mostly, it was scary because doctors didn't have the foggiest idea of what it was or how to treat it.

[sir archely]

um...anyone have a follow-up on this? where did it go? i haven't heard a word about this in quite a while now. scary how humans can be so skittish about something one moment, and forget it even existed the next.

[Jennifer]

Here's a CDC webpage that was last updated in August.

SARS Factsheet (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/factsheet.htm)

[~KA3AK~]

I dunno guys. I'm not worried about SARS at all. Here in the US I'm extremely unlikely to get it. I am much more likely to die in a car accident then from SARS.

[dark fuschia]

I heard they were also worried about SARS because we are over-due for a flu-like epidemic. The last one was 80 years ago or something and killed what is estimated to be 20-40 million people all over the world, including Europe and America. It was a disease called "The Spanish Flu". Apparently throughout recorded history these pandemics pop up again and again every 50 years or so, killing in large numbers, and according to research the patterns of emergence of that epidemic resembled SARS. I also have my own personal theory that they payed far too much attention to it so that the spotlight would turn away from the atrocities occuring in Iraq at that time.

[Anita Blake]

what? what on earth do you mean wendy? SARS, a disease with a 4% mortality rate, that killed mainly poeple who were already ill or very old, was used as a ploy to catch our attention to turn us away from the US government's other actions, despite the fact that the US was baerly even touched by SARS? No, no, that's CRAZY! GWB would never do that. He's a good, honest man.





ouch. that was so sarcastic i think i feel the need to vomit. :dozey: