Virus "worse then AIDS"

[Mr.Guvernment 0]

from another forum

 

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Virus 'worse than AIDS'

THE deadly SARS virus could infect more than one billion people worldwide within a year - and end up being more devastating than AIDS.

 

The grim warning was issued by a leading UK scientist last night.

 

Some info i found...

 

 

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6333518%255E26617,00.html

 

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/24/1050777363641.html

 

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/...ids%20epidemic'

[AndyFair 0]

SARS is a coronavirus, a group of viruses that also includes some strains of the common cold. This means that SARS is probably likely to spread by the same vectors (mainly aerosol, with contact as a secondary vector). However, I saw a report yesterday that mentioned that although SARS may be related to the common cold, it doesn't appear to spread as rapidly as colds do. It seems that SARS is only transmitted through repeated contact with a sufferer, so just fleeting contact with a carrier (the "cough in the lift" scenario) is unlikely to result in the disease. If you think about it, Toronto has 300 known cases in a population of 2.5million, the chances of you meeting a carrier, let alone spending enough time with them to catch the disease, are slim at best!

 

One of the things it shares with cold viruses is its high mutation rate, so much so that samples of SARS taken from the discovery of the disease (less than 6 weeks ago) bear little resemblance to strains of SARS being found today.

 

If you think about it, we have maybe ten thousand max reported cases world wide, and out of that ten thousand a handful of deaths - so we have 0.0001% of the population, maybe resulting in say 5-10% of that figure in deaths (I've just checked on the BBC news website, the known death toll is only 293 at the moment). Compared to diseases like malaria, TB, AIDS etc, that's just a drop in the ocean.

 

I'm not saying that we can be complacent with SARS, but you have to take it in context. People can die from influenza, but I don't see countries closing their borders because of flu. Although, come to think of it, it was about 100 years ago that we had the last major flu pandemic.

 

There are similarities between SARS and flu in that it appears to have started in the Far East (many flu epidemics can be traced back to the Far East, flu is virtually unique in that it can cross species boundaries, and in crossing those boundaries, picks up genetic variations, which results in new strains of flu. Flu epidemics are named by the point of origin, and the species of animal that the flu virus came from - although I have yet to see a Peking Duck flu strain ), and like flu causes distress in most of the population, but can be fatal in some cases. It's likely that SARS is a mutation of an animal form of coronavirus, that through mutation, has entered the human system.

 

The similarities between flu and the common cold mean that we'll probably never see a "panacea" vaccine for SARS - it mutates too quickly (the mutuations in flu, colds, AIDS etc. appear in the genes that encode the surface proteins, which means that any antibodies that an individual has against a previous strain of the disease are useless against any new strains).

 

Here's a useful link from the BBC, which gives some background.

 

Not to sound complacent yet, but at the moment there's not much to worry about. We really need to start worrying if it ever reaches the third world (at least if it stays in the first and seconds worlds, then at least these countries have the capabilities to treat and quarantine people. Third world countries do not have these capabilities, which means that the disease could spread unchecked)...

 

Rgds

AndyF

 

PS - I knew the degree in Microbiology would come in handy someday. Never thought I'd use it on NTCompatible though

[Mr.Guvernment 0]

Supposedly toronto only has 140 known cases and only 16 deaths thus far. what fraked me was the time i was in toronto, i visited scarborough grace hospital 2 times, one was 2 days before they shut it down!!!! - ,my uncles mother wazs there after an operation and we had visited her.

 

i don't think this can be conpared to aids - considering aids death rate is %100 and this is i beleive someone said liek 1/30 chance.

As many other have said where i posted this - it is alot of media hype - but i say better safe then sorry, alot of people are saying this is BS. and as i said - okay - u got get infected and tell me how BS it is!

[Mr.Guvernment 0]

here are some posts and my responses from one place i posted this on.

 

 

 

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that's such bullshit

 

unless you have an immune deficiency or some kind of major organ disease...you aren't going to die from sars!

 

people are so stupid

 

 

i seriously hope a new story that all the papers can cover comes up soon so people can stopw orrying about stupid sars

 

 

My Reponse

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^^^^

 

and how many people in this world have deficiencies? how many 3rd world countries are there? yeah exactly. Not everyone is healthy societies_devil, millions of people die a year simply from the common cold and other such "typical" illnesses.

 

 

it is a worse case scenerio - but it is very well possible.

 

 

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goddamn i hate the media sometimes...

 

the other day i saw a bunch of kids walking around with masks on... it is such bullshit....

 

 

My reponse:

 

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it is such bullshit? that is why people are dying? and more people being infected daily - not neccesarily dieing, but being infected - yeah is all bullshit, these people are not really dieing, there is no SARS.

 

So if it is BS why don't you gpo get infected, and see just how bullshit it is.

 

 

Are some people really that ignorant? it is people with that state of mind that spread disease around cause they think "i can't get this"

[adamvjackson 0]

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Are some people really that ignorant?

Sadly, yes.

[AndyFair 0]

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Are some people really that ignorant? it is people with that state of mind that spread disease around cause they think "i can't get this"

It's a case of the old "Typhoid Mary" syndrome. People would rather carry on as usual rather than admit that they might have actually caught the disease. How long did people carry on thinking that AIDS was only a gay disease, and that you were safe if you were heteros3xual, all the time ignoring the evidence that the majority of sufferers in Africa were heteros3xuals who were/caught it from prostitutes.

It's easier sometime to wear blinkers than it is to face up to the truth.

And, BTW, millions of people each don't die from colds: a few people each year die from secondary infections (which tend to be bacterial in nature, and the deaths are usually from bacterial pneumonia). People can also die from influenza as well. but they tend to be either the young, the old or the immunocompromised.

I'm taking the middle ground on this one: I don't think we can be complacent with SARS, but on the other hand, I don't think it's as bad as the media are making out.

Just my (ever so 'umble) opinion
AndyF

PS - Apologies about the "heteros3xuals" above - phpBB doesn't like S E X!

[sapiens74 0]

Funny how we worry about SARS when ISLAM has claimed millions of innocent victims, and continues to be the single most devisive force on this planet.

 

Thousands will die today from povery, war, and hatred all in the name of ALLAH, and we are worried about 100 or so deaths from a virus we will eventually learn to treat.

[ViolentGreen 0]

Quote:

Funny how we worry about SARS when ISLAM has claimed millions of innocent victims, and continues to be the single most devisive force on this planet.

Thousands will die today from povery, war, and hatred all in the name of ALLAH, and we are worried about 100 or so deaths from a virus we will eventually learn to treat.

No, it is not Islam itself that is devisive. It is exactly the intollerance that you display in this post that is the "single most devisive force on this planet."

[Mr.Guvernment 0]

I can agree Andy a great deal - as the media always over hypes these types of situations.

 

my side is more people who choose to ignore something like this as opposed to simply saying

 

"yes, i am aware it is out there, i know what i should do in order to protect myself and will be catious IF it is required"

 

i am not saying change your life style, simply if you are in a position of possibly contracting ANy disease you should be aware of what steps to be taken to avoid getting it, instead of just saying it is all bullshit.

 

One of the people who had said it was all bullshit came back to say that that is not what they meant but more so that they do not need to change their life because of this, but to me the word "bullshit" means what it says.

[sapiens74 0]

Quote:

Quote:

Funny how we worry about SARS when ISLAM has claimed millions of innocent victims, and continues to be the single most devisive force on this planet.

Thousands will die today from povery, war, and hatred all in the name of ALLAH, and we are worried about 100 or so deaths from a virus we will eventually learn to treat.

No, it is not Islam itself that is devisive. It is exactly the intollerance that you display in this post that is the "single most devisive force on this planet."

Intolerance is not accpeting people for who or what they are. I didn't use the word Muslim, I used ISLAM which is the religion. It breeds hate and intolerance. You can care for someone who is sick and still dislike the disease they carry.

The facts are simple:

Wherever ISLAM flourishes there is war, poverty, and intolerence. It is a breeding ground for these awful things.

[ViolentGreen 0]

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Funny how we worry about SARS when ISLAM has claimed millions of innocent victims, and continues to be the single most devisive force on this planet.

Thousands will die today from povery, war, and hatred all in the name of ALLAH, and we are worried about 100 or so deaths from a virus we will eventually learn to treat.

No, it is not Islam itself that is devisive. It is exactly the intollerance that you display in this post that is the "single most devisive force on this planet."

Intolerance is not accpeting people for who or what they are. I didn't use the word Muslim, I used ISLAM which is the religion. It breeds hate and intolerance. You can care for someone who is sick and still dislike the disease they carry.

I stand by my original post. I was speaking of intolerance toward the religion. You took a topic on SARS and made it an opportunity to bash a Religion.

The facts are simple:

Wherever ISLAM flourishes there is war, poverty, and intolerence. It is a breeding ground for these awful things.

[sapiens74 0]

Well it blows my mind how we can turn a blind eye to poverty, AIDS, war, and then get up in arms over SARS.

 

I mean the world comes together when they think they might get an illness, but we watch others get murdered, or starve, and we do nothing.

 

The time to stop being PC is now. We have to address the real issues in the world.

[ViolentGreen 0]

 

and this is the guy he have trying to save us all....

*sigh*

[Copernicus 0]

Oh well, no crying over this. A good chunk of the problem has to do with sanatation. Due to improper sanation in China,this modified Corona virus had a chance to spead. It's nice to know it's not airborne. So does this mean China needs to change the building code to force this from not happining again? Yes Hmm, the odd thing is why is Toronto having Deaths and not other Cities in Canada? Anyways, this is one thing that can go away.