Dear all,
I have not been here for a while, please excuse me for posting some inaccurate information on SARS based on the earlier reports from Chinese provincial governments, particularly from Guangdong and Beijing. Indeed, the whole world (including the World Health Organization) has been misled for a while when the cases and deaths from SARS have been underreported in China.
When I catch up the new information released recently from different agencies after my two weeks trip to a conference, I was really surprised by the progress of the disease and panic feeling in China.
There are several points I would like to reinforce though many of them may have already been addressed by the experts on TV programs or newspapers.
Whether SARS is curable?
SARS is clinically curable. When we say the SARS is curable, we mean that we can administrate medicines to help us improve our immune system to fight against the virus. It also means that we can use medicines to reduce the inflammatory response in the infected lungs, which will relieve the burden of the patient’s breath. The relief then benefits the patients by allowing more energy to strengthen the immune system to fight against the virus. Additional common treatment is to directly administrate oxygen to the patients. These approaches are usually used in combination which can help many patients (up to 95-98% as stated by Mary) to recover from the illness.
However, it does not mean that medicine is now available for kill the virus in our bodies. Up today, there is no chemical available to kill the virus without hurting/killing the patients, in another word; there is not effective MEDICINE to kill the virus. This is also means that the virus can spread far-beyond our imagination before any effective VACCINE developed in the coming years. It is particularly worrisome while considering the still growing population of AIDS patients globally. AIDS means Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, in another word; the AIDS patients have weak immune system to defend any bacteria or virus infection. Therefore, the co-infection HIV virus (for AIDS) with the Corona virus (for SARS) is predicted to be more deadly. World Health Organization and countries around the world are closely watching the epidemic of SARS, particularly in Africa where the AIDS rate is as high as 50% of the population in some central African countries.
Can you prevent SARS by spraying vinegar?
NO! NO! NO! Instead, you should keep the room with good ventilation by opening doors and windows to increasing the air flow. Particularly for the youngsters, do not go to the night clubs, Kara-OK bars, net-bars, the isolated rooms in restaurants (a very popular way for dinning out in China) where are congested with people under poor ventilation systems. Moreover, you should follow the suggestions by Mary in her post.
Can the temperature change the epidemic of the SARS?
Not sure! SARS is different from Flu which peaks twice every years during the seasons change (mostly likely early spring and late fall). There is no evidence that SARS will slow down in the coming summer. Why? I could give your explanation though it may not be true. Human beings probably acquire SARS in a similar way to those of AIDS and chicken Flu. Since these viruses normally do not inhabit in human beings, therefore, there is no reason to believe that they will disappear in summer.
How were human beings infected by the Corona virus?
There are some news/rumors about the first case of SARS in Guangdong, who was a chef in a restaurant. He was infected by the virus, and initiated the outbreak in the past half year. Although I don’t know whether the news is true, it is conceivable that the virus jumps from animals to human beings like HIV and chicken Influenza. It is noteworthy that people in Guangdong like to eat the wild animals. The practice has greatly enhance the cohabit and contact between the wild animals and human being when all these animals are captured and kept alive in urban areas. Thus, human beings are greatly exposed to the virus that normally infects the wild animals in countryside, which increase the chance for the virus to infect the human beings.
What do we expect from biological/pharmaceutical progress, vaccine or drug?
I am not so sure about drugs in a short time. The effective AIDS came more than 15 years after the first AIDS case reported. So far there is no good vaccine to prevent the HIV infection since the fast mutation rate taken by the HIV virus to escape the detection by the host immune system.
Vaccine, we may have a good shot, but it will take at least 6-8 months, which is determined by the natural process of generating antigens and antibodies (which is also based on that we are lucky on the first sets of targets on the virus). This is just to say that we have something for beginning clinic trials, let alone the long procedure of the clinic trials. But at least, we still have hope!
What we can do now?
Take every precaution as much as possible! Mary has already written a detailed one, and I would like to save my time here.
Best wishes to all of you!
Yours truly,
Mia
