From: randy (cryofan@mylinuxisp.com)
Date: Mon Mar 17 2003 - 19:14:06 MST
It's a bit scary and peculiar. Here it is, crossposted from cryonet:
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From Mgdarwin@cs.com Mon Mar 17 23:49:28 2003
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From: Mgdarwin@cs.com
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Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 18:49:16 EST
Subject: URGENT HEALTH WARNING
To: cryonet@cryonet.org
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I am communicating with you only because I believe this is a matter of
life
or death.
This is a warning of a possible near term pandemic which may be highly
lethal
and result in serious disruption of civil order and normal daily life.
As
most of you probably know from news reports there has been an unusual
communicable form of "pneumonia" which does not respond to any
treatment
currently available including antivirals and antibiotics.
What you may not know is that the media is severely (in my opinion)
underreporting the gravity of the situation in general, and the
severity of
this illness in particular. I first became aware of this problem about
6
months ago when reports came out of China that a new flu had emerged
and the
local population was "overreacting" according to the Chinese
government. One
of my Internet medical colleagues in China advised me that the disease
was
quite serious, virulently communicable (had failed containment using
standard
Universal Precautions and cloth and disposable surgical masks). I was
also
told that heath care workers were heavily affected and that draconian
containment measures were being used in the province where the disease
began.
I was also told that it was *rumored* that the area where the epidemic
began
was in proximity to military installations involved in defensive
nuclear-chemical-biological (NBC) research. Shortly afterward, he
died,
possibly of the new illness. His last message indicated that all
attempts he
knew of (i.e., civilian) to isolate the etiologic agent responsible
for the
disease in China had failed. In short, it did not appear to be an
influenza,
although the province where it originated is in the heart of the world
influenza generation zone (which, BTW, is in China).
On 15 March, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert and
gave the
illness a name: SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. My
contacts in
other areas of epidemiology and medicine have informed me that the CDC
has
also so far failed completely to characterize the etiologic agent for
SARS.
Many of you will also note that I relocated to a remote, isolated area
in
September of this year. Some of you may have wondered why. Now, you
know part
of the reason and Dave Pizer's comment about my post being "almost
scary" can
be put into perspective. As a sidebar, unfortunately, I currently work
at a
facility that services travelers and tourists, so, unless my timing is
flawless in the face of a US epidemic of SARS, all my precautions may
have
been futile.
Several things are clear:
1) SARS patients who require hospitalization do not seem to improve
and those
who become ventilator dependent remain so. It is not known how many
people
recover from the illness who do not reach hospital, but in well
nourished
urban populations it appears that the mortality rate may be as high
10%-20%.
2) SARS is *extremely* infectious; those physicians treating it in
Hong Kong
report that it is about as infectious as influenza. So that you can
understand the gravity of this statement this would mean that SARS is
more
infectious than Ebola or the other hemorrhagic fevers and would
require the
highest level of biosafety containment for handling in the laboratory.
*For
practical purposes it means that complete civilian protection can best
be
achieved by complete isolation until the epidemic is over. * Masks
(respiratory) and conjunctival protection (eye shields) coupled with
gloves
will probably provide a significant degree of protection against
casual
exposure. A principal purpose of the gloves is to remind you not to
touch
your face. However, these methods of protection will likely fail if
contact
with infected person(s) is prolonged in indoor or contained spaces
(homes,
vehicles, aircraft, etc.).
3) SARS is likely to spread rapidly and public health officials are
likely to
react too slowly to contain it. Only draconian measures would allow
any
significant degree of protection and these measures are likely to be
so
severe that normal commerce and travel would be severely or completely
disrupted. SARS may well behave much like the 1918 Flu. For an
excellent and
comprehensive review of this pandemic I highly recommend Gina Kolata's
FLU:
THE GREAT INFLUENZA PANDEMIC OF 1918 AND THE SEARCH OF THE AGENT THAT
CAUSED
IT (ISBN: 0374157065
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, LLC). Used copies are available
from
bookfinder.com for as little as $1.00 (US). The 1918 Flu killed more
people
than W.W.I. Estimates for deaths in the US are as high as 18 million.
4) I suggest that if you have not done so already, you stockpile
emergency
food, water, and minimal protective equipment for you and your loved
ones. It
is impossible to be comprehensive here, but other measures such as
having
bleach and dispensing equipment available for disinfection of surfaces
should
you have to care for someone infected with SARS should also be
undertaken
Many websites for disaster and NBC preparedness exist, and many of
these sell
supplies which may be useful. Frankly, these are supplies you should
*all*
have in any event as a routine part of preparedness for life. *Anyone
seriously concerned about their survival should have these kinds of
preparations in place. * Survival Unlimited.com is one such website.
There
are many others.
5) The elderly and immunocompromised appear to be particularly hard
hit by
SARS and appear to constitute a disproportinate number of those who've
died.
6) I emphasize that media coverage is not accurately reflecting the
severity
of the disease or the extent of SARS in China, although the media is
beginning to report that SARS "is of concern to healthcare agencies."
7) Those involved in healthcare, cryonics care, and those who deal
with
tourists (freeway related businesses, tourist centers, and
hotels/motels) are
IMHO likely to be at very high risk of exposure to the initial wave of
infection with SARS should it become epidemic in the United States and
Europe. A disproportinate number of sentinel provincial Chinese cases
were in
hoteliers and shopkeepers at trade hubs. If you are involved in such a
business it would probably be wise to cease operation (where possible)
at
such time as the first cases are reported in your country or region of
your
country.
Healthcare and cryonics workers should acquire active full-head HEPA
protection for all staff and impermeable full-body protective suits.
In the
case of cryonics personnel, Standby staff who deal with the patient
while
alive will be at very high risk. Volunteers for these high risk
positions
should be sought at the earliest opportunity and training to minimize
the
risk of SARS transmission (using influenza as a model) should begin at
once.
Cryonics organization should also, in my opinion, modify handling and
operative procedures to deal with this illness. The external surfaces
of all
patients who arrive should be scrubbed with detergent and 2% sodium
hypochlorite.
Finally, impending war is likely to provide a fertile opportunity for
rapid
spread of SARS since it mandates movement of manpower and material
across
multiple borders even the presence of disease, concentrates people in
barracks and shelters, and results in immunocompromise from stress
(even in
healthy and well nourished soldiers and civilians) from increased
glucocorticoid secretion. War is the handmaiden of epidemic disease
and in
this case the timing could not be worse in my opinion.
Thank you for your consideration of this message. The communication
from Tom
Buckley, as posted to the Critical Care Medicine Forum (CCM-L), is
reproduced
below.
Mike Darwin
The implications of SARS for the cryonics community are overwhelming.
I will close this message with a communication from Tom Buckley, an
Intensivist in Hong Kong. Tom's is a superb physician and Intensivist
and his
communication below should give you snap shot of what is happening in
a
major, highly sophisticated medical center in Hong Kong.
Dear All,
I have not read all of the below because we seem to be close too or
are the
centre of this form of atypical pneumonia.
So just a brief summary of our experience.
Male arrives on the medical ward having been admitted thru A & E.
Other
patients and STAFF start to develop symptoms - fever, headache, dry
cough.
Unresponsive to various combinations of cefotaxime, chlarithromycin,
levofloxacin, doxyclycline and Tamiflu. All microbiology is NEGATIVE
(after
one week).
Physicians have started patients on ribovarin and steroids.
As of yesterday there were 64 patients with "atypical pneumonia" in
the
hospital - a large number of whom are staff.
Patient visitors, medical consultation staff, medical students
visiting
patients have all developed symptoms and to a large degree CXR signs.
While most of our cases revolve around the patient admitted to the
medical
ward we have admitted (to ICU) another patient from another hospital
with
atypical pneumonia.
In ICU we have twelve patients admitted so far
Five are ventilated. Seven breathing spontaneously but very oxygen
dependent.
My impressions
CXR reveal progressive bilateral infiltrates starting at the bases.
Patients invariably have a low WCC and maybe thrombocytopenic.
Patients invariably have an elevated CPK. No ECG changes and Troponin
T
negative. Post mortem on an Indonesian maid (not in our hospital)
showed
evidence of ARDS and myocarditis.
So far 2-3 of our older patients with chronic disease have
deteriorated
fastest. Medical staff - younger and fitter have faired better.
Their
radiological findings have deteriorated in all but one case.
We receive 2-3 admissions per day. So far no-one has shown any
improvement.
Once intubated however they remain relatively static but very oxygen
and
PEEP dependent. Those ventilated have solid lungs. Interestingly one
patient developed a pneumothorax on the medical ward and after chest
drain
and re-expansion his pneumonia involves only the side without a chest
drain.
Another patient (ventilated) has developed surgical emphysema.
ICU is now closed for all but atypical pneumonias. All our other
"clean
cases" have been transferred to other ICUs. All elective surgery is
being
cancelled and wards are being closed and evacuated. Al ambulances are
being
diverted.
We are taking strictest possible isolation procedures available to us
including hand washing, gloves, gowns, N95 masks and visors.
Masks are worn throughout the hospital.
Staff are not going home to children.
Please take the warning below seriously. My impression is that even
with
minimal contact with an infected person people have been becoming ill.
Staff morale in ICU is high but If ICU staff start developing symptoms
then
this is a big problem as we have instituted isolation procedures
earliest.
Other hospitals in Hong Kong are admitting sporadic cases.
I am off to a noon update.
Any suggestions will be gratefully received.
Tom Buckley
Consultant Intensivist
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care,
Prince of Wales Hospital
Shatin,
Hong Kong
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