Re: SARS or something else?(long)

From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Fri Apr 18 2003 - 20:56:23 MDT

  • Next message: Robert J. Bradbury: "Re: NEWS: Progeria/aging progress"

    On Fri, 18 Apr 2003 ABlainey@aol.com wrote:

    > Thanks to everyone that gave advise. I have decided not to panick just yet
    > and have even come out of the bunker and risk it on the surface for a while

    Alex, you don't need to go overboard on this -- I think the WHO has a
    set of published measures that help prevent infection (things like
    washing hands frequently, don't touch your face, etc.).

    Now that we have the genome sequence most major medical facilities
    should have a test within a few weeks, or perhaps a month or more
    (worst case) based on using PCR to amplify and detect the genome.
    Its a little tricky to develop a test since the coronavirus genomes
    are +stranded RNA (vs. -stranded RNA or DNA) so common PCR methods
    (for DNA) have to modified somewhat. [PCR for those who don't know,
    stands for Polymerase Chain Reaction and it is a way to "amplify"
    genomic sequences so one has enough information to look at. Kerry
    Mullis won a Nobel prize in chemistry in 1993 for its development.]

    Also, the figures I have seen seem to be putting the fatality rate
    at between 3-4%. It isn't clear to me whether that is greater than
    influenza (percentage wise), but in terms of deaths, influenza wins
    hands down (something like ~30,000+ deaths a year in the U.S. vs.
    0 for SARS so far).

    Influenza is an orthomyxovirus whose genome is based on 8 pieces
    of -stranded RNA. The fact that it has 8 pieces of RNA allows
    it to mix and match with other orthomyxoviruses in various
    animals (not an uncommon situation for humans to get infected
    with various orthomyxoviruses from animals on farms) so it
    varies from year to year -- that is why one needs to be
    revaccinated every year. So influenza is much more dangerous
    than SARS -- its just that the media are hyping SARS right now.

    Robert



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Apr 18 2003 - 21:05:20 MDT