Who's...Mine...that could be a scary thought...don't ya' think... :woot
Thought I would pass this page along...yesterday's update on SARS...If you click on this link which is the home page you can register for free...This is the main site the medical professionals in my area use...
I apologize for the length of this post...tried to post the link...but you will have to register in order to gain access.
http://www.medscape.com/homeindex
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Update: Friday, April 4, 2003
Craig Sterritt, Editor, Medscape Infectious Diseases
Cause of SARS Still Uncertain, Suspects Include Coronavirus, Metapneumovirus, and/or Chlamydia
A novel coronavirus remains the prime suspect in the search for the cause of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), although coinfection/cofactor hypotheses involving metapneumovirus, a type of paramyxovirus, and/or a species of chlamydia are gaining ground as new laboratory findings are reported from China, Canada, and elsewhere.
On April 5, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman Chris Powell confirmed that the disease may result from "one virus acting with other things," and that in China, chlamydial infection is a possible cofactor. Scientists in Canada have reported the identification of both coronavirus and paramyxovirus genetic material in several SARS patients.
According to articles in the Financial Times and the New Scientist on April 3, a top Chinese health official has revealed that the first cases of SARS were bird vendors and chefs. Both reports cited an interview with the vice director for viral diseases at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention which appeared in the South China Morning Post.
If confirmed, this evidence would support hypotheses that SARS is caused by a variant avian coronavirus or a recombinant hybrid of an avian and another coronavirus.
On April 2, Chinese authorities announced that 361 new SARS cases and 9 deaths were recorded in China between March 1 and March 31, 2003, signifying that the SARS epidemic is continuing there; new cases were reported to have occurred not only in Guangdong Province, but in the Guangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, and Shanghai provinces as well. As of April 3, WHO is reporting a cumulative total of 1,190 SARS cases and 46 deaths in China.
As of April 3, WHO is recommending that people avoid traveling to Guangdong Province and to Hong Kong, where a large community outbreak of SARS is being investigated. "This is the first time that we have recommended people avoid an area and this is of course because we do not understand the disease completely, because there's no vaccine and there's no drug," said David Heymann, MD, executive director of WHO's Communicable Diseases division, in a press briefing on April 2.
"Clearly, Guangdong and Hong Kong are the two largest foci for infection, two foci where transmission is documented to be ongoing," added Guenael Rodier, MD, director of Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response at WHO.
On April 4, WHO added 27 new Hong Kong cases and 1 death to its cumulative, daily counts of reported SARS cases and deaths, bringing Hong Kong totals to 761 cases and 17 deaths. Twenty-six new cases were reported on April 3, 23 on April 2, and 155 new cases were added on April 1. Health officials are hopeful that the decline in new cases represents a slowing of the epidemic in Hong Kong.
Epidemiologic indicators in other affected regions, including Vietnam, where SARS was first identified, point to a slowing of the disease's spread. However, a new case in Hanoi calls into question reports that SARS had been contained in Vietnam.
As of April 4, the WHO's worldwide cumulative tallies of suspected SARS cases and deaths were 2,353 and 84, respectively, up from 2,270 and 79 on April 3.
As of April 3, the CDC is reporting a total of 100 suspected U.S. cases in 28 states, up from 85 cases in 27 states on April 2. Health Canada reports a total of 178 probable or suspected SARS cases and 7 deaths, up from 160 and 6 on April 2.
SARS Morbidity and Mortality
As alarm about SARS spread though Hong Kong, health officials there emphasized in an April 2 report that most hospitalized patients were demonstrating "positive responses" to a new treatment protocol, and that only approximately 10% of patients required intensive care. On April 3, 9 more patients with SARS were discharged from public hospitals, bringing total discharges to 98.
Similarly, health officials in Ontario, Canada, reported on March 31 that only 2 of 51 patients with probable SARS are in intensive care. According to the report, most patients "remain hospitalized for isolation purposes" only. Further, the report noted that all 4 SARS-related deaths in the region (at that time) occurred in patients with underlying illness, 3 of whom were elderly.
Finally, two papers and two editorials on SARS have been published by the New England Journal of Medicine. Because of possible public health implications, the full text of these articles is available on the NEJM Web site at
http://nejm.org/earlyrelease/sars.asp.
Summary of Events to Date
On March 15, 2003, the WHO issued a global alert of a multicountry outbreak of SARS, an atypical pneumonia of as yet unidentified etiology. The syndrome was first recognized on February 26, 2003, in Hanoi, Vietnam, by WHO investigator Carlo Urbani, MD.
According to WHO, as of April 3, 2003, SARS cases have been reported in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Romania, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam. A total of 2,270 cases and 79 deaths have been reported to date.
SARS appears to be transmitted by close contact, most probably via airborne droplets; the majority of new cases have been reported in healthcare workers and family members of affected persons. Evidence of community spread of the disease is emerging, however.
On March 31, the Hong Kong Department of Health ordered the quarantine of all residents of an apartment block after the detection of 107 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the building, and 213 SARS cases in the 19-building Amoy Gardens apartment complex. At least 240 residents have since been relocated to vacation camps outside of the city. Hong Kong and WHO scientists are investigating this troubling demonstration of community spread of SARS, which was hitherto documented to be spread via close and prolonged contact.
On March 26, Chinese authorities officially reported a total of 792 SARS cases and 31 deaths that occurred in 7 cities of Guangdong Province between November 16, 2002, and February 28, 2003. Between March 1 and March 31, 2003, 361 new SARS cases and 9 deaths were recorded there, signifying that the SARS epidemic is continuing there. As of April 2, WHO is reporting a total of 1,190 suspected SARS cases and 46 deaths in mainland China.
Scientists at the University of Hong Kong announced on March 27 that they had developed a diagnostic test to rapidly identify cases of SARS. The researchers also announced that they had confirmed a coronavirus as the cause of SARS. A new coronavirus remains the prime suspect in the search for the cause of SARS, although it has yet to be confirmed as the single cause of the disease.
On March 29, WHO announced the death of Dr. Carlo Urbani, who first identified the SARS outbreak. Dr Urbani had acquired the disease in the course of his investigations.
Sometimes I would have to close my eyes...and pray I wouldn't :barf: ...On more than one occasion I had to hang in there until I could get out of a room and rapidly make my way to the ladies room...gagging all the way... 
...Funny...my stepfather always wanted me to be a nurse...I wanted to be an artist...lol...Last place I swore I would ever end up in was working in the medical field...that'll teach me to say never... 
...I always said...if they would just pay me to walk around and socialize with the patients...I would be extremely happy...I possess an abundance of compassion...and love to cut up with people and make them smile/laugh...who'd a believed that... 
