SARS
Apr 3rd, 2003, 09:14 PM
#3
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For years I have recommended allergy masks on planes and don't touch anything that goes in your mouth, nose and eyes. No matter how shiny and well decorated they are, planes are germ buckets! So are hotels!!<BR>Humbug! But hooked on travel!!!
Apr 3rd, 2003, 09:15 PM
#4
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By the way, canceled my trip to China this week that was to start on Sunday. <BR>Just keep telling myself that China has been there for hundreds of years and I want to be here for a few more!<BR>Ciao!
Apr 4th, 2003, 01:22 AM
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Please, please rely on www.who.int and www.cdc.com (and other official health organizations) for your advice.<BR><BR>Representatives from WHO have stated: �there is no complete cut off � one is a completely safe thing to do, one is a completely unsafe thing to do.� They stress that the best prevention for any communicable disease is �information and understanding by people what that disease looks like and what they should do if they become sick. With that information, people can decide whether or not they want to expose themselves to what they consider risk�. <BR><BR>They have also stated that air travel is not dangerous because of air circulation in the cabin, but is only related to the chance of close contact with a sick passenger. If there were an infected passenger on your flight, "it�s not the whole of the aircraft that�s going to be at risk, but those who are close to the person who is sick on the aircraft. That person can then be isolated, they can wear a mask, and that will cut down any risk of exposure enormously." <BR><BR>Best of luck!<BR><BR>Andrea in Shanghai
Apr 4th, 2003, 02:58 AM
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There was a SARS question also yesterday. This was my answer:<BR><BR><BR>Message: There were WHO statistics in my newspaper to-day. Looks like you are in far more danger at home than in Europe. I�ll start from east:<BR><BR> Australia: 1 sick, 0 dead<BR> Hongkong: 685 sick, 16 dead<BR> Taiwan: 13 sick, 0 dead<BR> Vietnam: 58 sick, 4 dead<BR> Singapore: 92 sick, 3 dead<BR> China: 1190 sick, 46 dead<BR><BR>Then Europe:<BR><BR> Romania: 3 sick, 0 dead<BR> Italy: 3 sick, 0 dead<BR> Switzerland: 3 sick, 0 dead<BR> Germany: 5 sick, 0 dead<BR> France: 1 sick, 0 dead<BR> Belgium: 1 sick, 0 dead<BR> UK: 3 sick, 0 dead<BR> Ireland: 2 sick, 0 dead<BR><BR>Then across the Atlantic:<BR><BR> Canada: 53 sick, 6 dead<BR> USA: 69 sick, 0 dead<BR><BR>So, those were yesterday�s statistics. Could have changed by now.
Apr 4th, 2003, 06:18 AM
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We're traveling to Paris through Toronto, which I hear has had significant numbers of SARS cases. Should we be concerned about connecting in Toronto? Or should we be more concerned about Aircanada still flying (bankruptcy)........
Apr 4th, 2003, 08:58 AM
#10
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Just returned from the UK to the US yesterday. I don't think you will encounter anyone with SARS or the chances will be slim. Our plane was full capacity and the airports were very busy. I can understand the concern though.
Apr 4th, 2003, 09:35 PM
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Just return from 4 weeks in England. got a sore throat 2nd day in London & on 4th day was at the doctors with laryngitis. This was just from dry recirculated air on plane. I don't travel by plane much & maybe should have taken more precautions. Doctor in London suggested antibiotics for a few days before I travel just in case.
Apr 5th, 2003, 02:36 AM
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I don´t think you´ve got much to worry about transiting through Toronto. Based on the information I´ve seen (I´m from Toronto but travelling right now), the outbreak is localized, in the sense that it is limited to certain hospitals, health care workers, patients and the immediate families of these groups. The authorities have been taking steps to contain the outbreak by asking these people to go into voluntary quarantine (and a number of people who have returned from travelling in Asia are doing the same), and the authorities are taking steps to impose quarantines on people who don´t do it voluntarily. Airline staff were asking people questions about SARS when I flew last week, and staff in the airport lounge I visited also followed up on some suspicious coughing (someone who turned out to have asthma). So while your risk, in a relative sense, is perhaps a little higher in a Toronto airport than elsewhere, I think it´s minimal. Now - if you asked me about whether you should check yourself into a Toronto hospital, I might have a different answer ....
Apr 5th, 2003, 02:53 AM
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President Bush just signed an Executive Order allowing the U.S. Dept of Health to imposed quarantine to any patient diagnosed with SARS in the US; about 116 cases so far (all people that have recently returned from Asia). This authority comes after a woman coming from China and exhibiting symptoms of SARS refused to go to a hospital and proceeded to walk freely around the airport and headed home. In that case there was no authority under which to detained and forced her to go to a hospital. The rate of increase is about 80 new cases worldwide every day, which in terms of prior epidemic rates could be worse; let's hope it doesn't. This number hasn't changed much since the begginning of the outbreak which is a good indicator that preventive measures are been somewhat effective.
Apr 5th, 2003, 03:22 AM
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Andrea, your post is reasonable but does have a mistake re SARS. Close contact may not be needed at all. I am just listening to a report about how it started and there was NO close contact between the originating spreaders of this epidemic. And I do think recirculating air can be a contaminating factor.<BR>And Lottie your doctor prescribing "a few days of antibiotics" ought to be ashamed of himself. There is a true disaster happening with germs that are now resistant to our most powerful antibiotics AND the dummy doctor ought to know that viruses are not affected by antibiotics. You would have to have a bacterial infection for antibiotics to be of any effect.
Apr 5th, 2003, 03:28 AM
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I may not be a doctor, but I must say too, Lottie, your doctor is a complete idiot, and if I were you I'd be looking for a new one. The idea of taking antibiotics in advance of travel as some sort of "precaution" is about the dumbest "medical" advice I've ever heard of in my life -- be in for SARS or anything else!!!!
Apr 5th, 2003, 03:46 AM
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I wouldn't give SARS much consideration on a UK-US trip as things stand right now. I'm currently holding off on a trip to Asia. It's not so much because of a fear of SARS but because of the equal or perhaps even greater threat of getting involved in a real hassle as authorities try to deal with its spread. The reports I'm seeing so far seem to place SARS in a category with influenza. The fatality rate for those who contract it appears to fall between 3% and 4%, numbers that are are regarded as quite high and very dangerous in the public health field. (Probably few of us live in dire fear of the flu and yet we know that on a world-wide basis, it kills hundreds of thousands of people annually.)
Apr 5th, 2003, 04:34 AM
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The information in my post came directly from the WHO website, and reflects their best understanding of the disease as of the date on which they posted the information, which just serves to illustrate my main point, that only the official national or international health organizations should be relied upon for the most accurate, updated information.
Apr 5th, 2003, 04:46 AM
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Did I read Lotties' post right? She stated that it was the doctor IN LONDON who prescribed antibiotics AFTER she felt a sore throat, was diagnosed with Laryngitis, and advised to take them in the time period before she returned to the US (three weeks time). What am I missing? Sounds like sound advice....
Apr 5th, 2003, 05:04 AM
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<<Sounds like sound advice....>><BR><BR>Was this tongue in cheek, Maira? Nothing "sound", in my mind, about prescribing antibiotics at the time of laryngitis in Lottie's story - - nor advising them in connection with air travel three weeks later. Laryngitis is hardly ever caused by a bacterial infection (PHARyngitis is - - 25-50% of the time - - that is visible LOOKing in the back of the threat, and culturing, typically). And taking "prophylactic antibiotics" would not affect the risk of contracting SARS as far as I know.<BR><BR>The indiscriminate use of antibiotics for viral illnesses is one of the truly great dangers to human health, worldwide.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex Bickers, M.D.<BR>[email protected]<BR>
