erm, my mom thinks I should stop going to school.. and it's peak exam time! The med, nurshing and phy. therapy classes have all been canceled and their exams postponed here. What about us life sci. undergrads? Every other person I know in my program does some sort of volunteering at some hospital. Plus the four hospitals themselves are a 5 min walk from campus. We must just be expendable.
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*Originally posted by hayaa: *
We must just be expendable.
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yeah too many graduates in your field, a little decrease in the numbers is probably being planned :P
khuda ka khof karain frauds unkil, what would my mom do without me? :(
I'm willing to change fields, if they cancel our exams. grin
I heard the vaccine will be available in 1 or 2 years time...:(
They are saying that the SARS outbreak will be under control soon. There have been 11 deaths so for in Toronto and about 200 suspected cases. As coconut bahi said, the chances of getting SARS are quite low but a quaruntine is recommended if you think you may be infected.
Sars ‘spread by cockroaches’
Experts have a new theory on how the Sars illness raced through an entire apartment block in Hong Kong.
They believe that cockroaches may have carried the infection from flat to flat.
The death toll from Sars - Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome - continues to mount.
Officially, 98 people have now died worldwide from the severe pneumonia it causes, and the true figure is likely to be over 100 when deaths over the past few days are confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
However, China provided some good news on the bug when it announced that the rate of new cases in Guangdong Province - believed to be the Sars epicentre - had more than halved in the past month.
Scientists are increasingly confident that the illness is caused by a virus related to that which causes the common cold.
A team from the University of Hong Kong studied 50 patients with sars from five separate outbreak clusters.
Nine out of ten showed evidence of infection by a coronavirus. In contrast, the virus was not found in any healthy people that the scientists also examined.
The scientists, who published their work on The Lancet website on Tuesday, said the virus they had isolated was not one of the two known human coronaviruses. They believe it may have originated in animals.
Drainage problem
The cockroach theory was voiced by Hong Kong Deputy Director of Health Leung Pak-yin on Monday.
He was talking about how the disease managed to spread like wildfire through an apartment block at Amoy Gardens in Kowloon.
In just a few days, more than 300 new cases arose among residents of the block.
The cases left health officials baffled and deeply concerned, as many of the 300 had had no direct contact with anyone who had Sars.
Leung said: "The drainage may be the reason.
“It is possible that the cockroaches carried the virus into the homes.”
Scientists are still not sure exactly what causes Sars, or how easy it is to spread.
A WHO investigation team will finish a six-day visit to Guangdong Province on Tuesday.
The Chinese authorities are insisting that they are bringing the outbreak there under control.
Huang Qindao, the director of Guangdong’s health department, told AFP: “New cases are steadily decreasing…so even though the disease source hasn’t been found, the disease can be prevented and treated.”
It was announced on Monday that an American teacher and a Chinese Canadian couple had both picked up Sars during a visit to Southern China.
It follows the death of a Finnish man in Beijing from the illness.
Pekka Aro, 53, died in Beijing bringing the country’s death toll from the virus to 53.
At least 100 people worldwide are thought to have died from the virus.
On Monday, Beijing’s authorities announced they would disinfect all five diplomatic compounds housing businessmen, journalists and diplomats.
Canadian concerns
In Canada, the disease has killed at least 9 people - health authorities there now believe the death toll has reached 10.
The head of the Canadian central bank warned on Monday that the virus could have economic consequences there.
“An epidemic like Sars, if it carries on, is obviously going to be quite serious but we don’t know that. We know there is going to be a short-term impact,” Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge said.
The virus shows no signs of being contained.
According to local reports, Sars has spread to Hong Kong’s Tuen Mun district where a hospital is treating dozens of cases.
On Tuesday, Singapore said six more nurses had been infected with the virus while India reported its first case - a US citizen who had been taken ill after travelling to Bombay from China.
2 women from my office are in quarantine! (:
Does anyone have stats on the people that have died. I want to know what age-group they belonged to and if any other health conditions they might have had.
Actually, they are saying that all the patients had some illness or weren't very healthy. I believe it was old people that died most, but I'm not sure.
There isn't much that you can do to avoid it, esp. if you're living in areas like Scarborough. My school's packed with orientals (which is around 95%). Just recently, some girl got SARS at school and was later sent home. In fact, she was in qurantine and returned on the 10th day to write her midterm biology exam. Another 25 students and a teacher have been placed in a 10 day qurantine.
So far ten people have died in Ontario (six men and four women) and as of today, there have been no new deaths from the disease.
**Lets make it absolutely clear that SARS is not a racial disease and is in no way directly related to oriental people.
If we look back at history in the 80's, the AIDS epidemic was blamed on homosexuals with Greek origin when infact it was also found in women.
Diseases/viruses do not go for ethinicity and neither should we, please allow that to sink in and make a clear differentiation between the two.**
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*Originally posted by hayaa: *
Does anyone have stats on the people that have died. I want to know what age-group they belonged to and if any other health conditions they might have had.
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I heard most of them were over 65 and already had some other conditions.
Bad news:
Latest news 500 people infected and quarantined.
SARS outbreak rules changed that all hospitals or suspected cases are put under quarantine.
SARS is spreading out to the general population.
Good news:
Canada/USA have cracked the genetic code of SARS
Take extra caution and be careful!
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*Originally posted by CocoNut: *
**Bad news: Latest news 500 people infected and quarantined.
...]SARS is spreading out to the general population.
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**
Sorry, CocoNut, but is this in Canada or in another country?
Some more good news - BBC is reporting that a German firm is "distributing a new high-speed test for the Sars virus".
:-)
I heard tht 96.5 percent of the ppl infected have recovered well if it was discovered in the early stages and only 3.5 percent of them had died.
doesn't sound all tht bad?
one good news: they have determined the genetic code of the virus....so at least making the diagnosis will be easier.
as for the origin: it is suspected that it is a mix of two viruses.....so that's why noone has immunity against it.
It's getting worst in Hong Kong...:(
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Originally posted by Nadia_H: *
*
but is this in Canada or in another country?
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Toronto.
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*Originally posted by NeSCio: *
one good news: they have determined the genetic code of the virus....so at least making the diagnosis will be easier.
as for the origin: it is suspected that it is a mix of two viruses.....so that's why noone has immunity against it.
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Latest news is that it might be mutating making treatment more difficult.
Sad News. 
Pakistani became victim of SARS death. It appears, he brought virus diseases along with him
Sind Govt. has began investigating this serious matter.
LAHORE: The mysterious pneumonia known as Severe Acute Respiratory Symptom (SARS) has hit Pakistan as a youth who returned South Africa and suspected to be a victim of SARS, died at Sir Agha Khan Hospital early Sunday morning.
The hospital sources told Daily Times on anonymity that a youth in his 20s, Hammad was admitted to SAKH seven days ago. “He was suffering from serious respiratory disorder and the doctors kept him in quarantine,” say the sources. They said, “Doctors and nurses treating him were also using special attire and masks while visiting him.”
Doctors are reported to have handed his body over to his family after wrapping it in special polythene sheets with strict advice that he should be buried with the wrap. “They told them not to take off even a single sheet from the body,” said the sources. Hammad was returned from South Africa 10 days ago. Meanwhile, government sources told Daily Times that the Sindh government has ordered an inquiry into the matter.