OT: SARS - Should we be worried?

[Hawkeye]

Its a good idea to stay informed about any potential disease. This could be very much like the Inluenza outbreak in 1918. However, SARS has not reached that level. It has the potential to do so. The media, particularly in the US, has a bad habit of taking a story and running with it. 2 years ago, it was shark attacks. There was no increase in the number of shark attacks that year, just an increase in the number of reporters on the beaches. Last year it was child abductions/disapperances. There wasn't an increase in the number of abductions, just the coverage. This year its SARS. We lose more people a day to auto accidents in the US than SARS has killed worldwide. It is not time to panic or worry. Keep informed and watch your health and the health of your loved ones.

Hawkeye

 

[mythusmage]

Angcuru, it's just starting. Wait till it hits the third world, then make predictions.

Back when it first got started many experts were certain that the difficult method of transmission meant that AIDS would soon fade from the scene, and become a rare disease found almost exclusively in fringe communities. In a sense they were right, but only if you consider the Republic of South Africa a fringe community.

 

[Tidus4444]

I agree. It's not time to panic yet. People have compared it to the 1918 flu bug that killed a lot of people. We have far better medical technologies (just look in this week's newsweek) and much better sanitation. We'll lose a few thousand people, nothing too severe. What we really have to worry about is when things like smallpox start to out evolve our vacines. Then we're in trouble. I quote newsweek, who quoted a scientist "SARS is just a dress rehearsal for the next deadly disease."

 

[Angcuru]

Wait for other people to panic, then use that as cover for looting.

Aye aye, mon capitan!

 

[Uzumaki]

Eh, bring it on. I've been waiting for something to come along that'll decimate humans and leave other primates more or less alone. We overdue for a substantial come-uppance.

 

[BeholderBurger]

mmmmm

In Africa 3000 people each day die of Malaria alone. I think what makes this so suddenly newsworthy is that this is threatening western health systems. Not many people have given a damn about africa up to now and I would feel extremely hypocritical getting worked up about a disease which western medecine can control quite well.
If it does end up killing a load of us who cares anyway , us in the west have had a damn good run for our money with our nice lifestyles, maybe we could do with a wake up call to how bad life can get.

 

[Angcuru]

Re: mmmmm

If it does end up killing a load of us who cares anyway , us in the west have had a damn good run for our money with our nice lifestyles, maybe we could do with a wake up call to how bad life can get.

Not that It'll happen but you really wouldn't mind if it infected and killed every single person you care for, painfully and slowly reducing them to heaps of dead flesh, leaving you in mourning and pain?

 

[Norfleet]

Yes, but the people of Africa are doing a fine job overpopulating themselves and need all the help they can get to keep it under control.

Actually, that pretty much applies to all people, but Africa, and India, are especially problematic.

The worst plague to ever blight the face of the planet is humanity. I'm not racist. I hate everyone.

 

[The Sigil]

http://www.thehutchinsonreport.com/newsviews.htm

Google Cache of Medrants.com

I think it's overblown, myself.

One of my boss' favorite expressions is, "you have about as much chance of winning the lottery as you have of being struck by lightning while standing knee-deep in bat {guano}*."

Statistically, your chances of contracting SARS are on par with winning the lottery. And your chances of dying from it once you've contracted it are fairly small, too - about the chance of you being the first person picked out of a hat in one of your high school classes.

--The Sigil

*quote edited for benefit of Eric's Grandmother.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Just out of curiosity, because I really don't know the answer to this, how many people does the flu kill every year? Granted, when the flu kills, it takes an existing problem and causes complications that end up being fatal, but how do the numbers compare?