Allright, I know we have been talking about it recently. I was kidding about it, but now I think this shit is getting out of control.
Some people argued that common flu kill thousands every year. You are right. But this virus does not respond to ANY drugs. And it can kill healthy people (common flu mostly kill only the ones that are already sick or the ederly).
This means people in the 20's, 30's and more can die. Allright, it has only a 5% death rate. It's not too bad. But that does not mean I'd sleep well if I get infected. But WHO officials point out that the true mortality rate may be higher.
Also, they think it might be airborne and it can survive outside the body for 2-3 hours, so if someone touches a table for example, and you touch it, you are kinda fucked (well, unless you wash your hands every 30 mins).
Here in Quebec, we don't have any cases reported yet. But in the province next to us. (Toronto, Ontario) They have put 100's of people under quarantine, closed 2 hospitals and cases are rising.
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"Singapore's health minister, Lim Hng Kiang, said the disease may spread more easily than first believed, with some people found to be more infectious than others. Labeled as "super infectors," they can infect as many as 40 others, he said.
"We run the risk of a huge new cluster of infected people, which could start a chain reaction," Lim told a news conference"
HONG KONG - Dozens more people at a Hong Kong apartment complex contracted a flu-like disease to bring the number there to 213, health officials said Monday, as the mystery illness with no known treatment continued its spread.
Hong Kong's health secretary, Dr. Yeoh Eng-kiong, announced the big rise in severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, cases just hours after authorities imposed a tight quarantine on one bloc of apartments at the Amoy Gardens complex.
He said 88 new cases were diagnosed at the building complex to add to 125 other cases, bringing the total to 213.
The report came as the World Health Organization (news - web sites) said that SARS has killed at least 54 people worldwide, with the majority of cases in Hong Kong and China. That figure does not include three more deaths reported Sunday, one each in Hong Kong, Toronto and Singapore. More than 1,600 have been infected worldwide.
Singapore's health minister, Lim Hng Kiang, said the disease may spread more easily than first believed, with some people found to be more infectious than others. Labeled as "super infectors," they can infect as many as 40 others, he said.
"We run the risk of a huge new cluster of infected people, which could start a chain reaction," Lim told a news conference.
Singapore said it would station nurses at its airport to examine all travelers arriving from infected areas, while Canada planned to screen those traveling abroad from Toronto, although no system was in place Sunday.
Yeoh said 107 of the sick people were from one section, Block E. He said officials believe the virus was brought to Amoy Gardens by a man infected at the Prince of Wales Hospital, where many of Hong Kong's victims have fallen ill.
Yeoh appeared emotional and initially had trouble speaking as he made a statement on the isolation of Block E.
"It's a very exceptional circumstance," Yeoh said. "We haven't done it before and we hope we won't do it again."
In Canada, meanwhile, another death was reported Sunday to bring the toll there to four. Officials earlier declared a health emergency in Toronto, located 50 miles from the U.S. border. U.S. health officials have reported 62 cases in the United States but no deaths.
About 100 probable or suspect cases have been reported in Canada. Officials have closed two hospitals to new patients, and hundreds of people have been quarantined in their homes.
Another possible case turned up in New Brunswick on Canada's east coast, officials said Sunday, meaning the illness that originated in Asia may now reach across Canada. The New Brunswick case involves a school principal who recently traveled to China.
Other suspected cases are in Ottawa; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and on the west coast in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The United States and Canada have advised people to avoid travel to afflicted areas in Asia, and the World Health Organization recommended that international travelers from Toronto and several Asian cities get screened for symptoms.
Most of the Toronto-area cases are health care workers at Scarborough Grace Hospital and York Central Hospital who became infected while treating initial victims, all of whom had traveled in Asia or had close contact with other victims.
The disease has caused a run on surgical masks in the city and slowed business by as much as 70 percent at Pacific Mall, a Chinese shopping mall in Toronto's northern suburbs.
Kevin Wong, a worker at a video store in the mall, said the public reaction seemed excessive, but was understandable. Some merchants also were taking precautions, wearing protective masks even though no cases have been linked to the mall.
"People are still coming to work but they're coming in later and leaving early," he said. "They don't want to waste their time when there's no one here."
The International Ice Hockey Federation canceled the women's world championships scheduled to begin Thursday in Beijing.
The federation said the spread of the illness to Beijing from southern China put the players at risk.
Players for Canada, the defending champion, were disappointed but understood.
"You could lose your life going there and just being in contact with somebody," forward Danielle Goyette said. "Life is more important than hockey right now."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ry_illness_168