Are we living in the movie “Outbreak?” Though this virus does not pose the greatest threat to human existence, it is still scary. The virus I speak of is SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is keeping tabs on the number of cases of SARS. The list is updated daily and can be viewed at http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/
As of Monday, 2,601 cases exist in 17 countries, 141 cases in the United States alone. Of these cases, 98 have resulted in death.
WHO’s Monday status report gave an interesting hypothesis to the cause of this virus. It read, “Evidence that the causative agent is excreted in feces has focused attention on the possibility of an oral-fecal route of transmission, though no conclusions have been reached.”
In the midst of war, we see whether we like it or not leaders have control over our lives. I, for one, am glad that WHO has control over this threat. The World Health Organization is a United Nations specialized agency for health. I trust that the members are doing everything they can to learn about this new disease.
The scientists are not perfect nor will they ever be, but just in the handling of this outbreak, I respect them. WHO first found out about this unknown virus last month and already knows that it is a coronavirus and is probably spread through droplet transmission.
Coordinating an international effort to identify and treat this new disease is no easy task. The WHO Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network is utilizing scientific expertise in 11 laboratories in 10 countries. The efforts are in outbreak management, especially in Hong Kong, and in collecting data for the labs to study.
While I am patting WHO on the back, I am shaking my finger at China, which first saw this virus in a businessman in November. Oddly enough, four staff members who treated him also fell gravely ill, the New York Times reported Monday.
In February, China’s government finally informed the World Health Organization of the SARS cases. The rest of us found out on March 15 when WHO announced SARS’ worldwide threat.
Is communist China greedy? Did it not tell the world in fear of losing travelers? The sad part is I don’t know how quickly America would have announced the epidemic. What constitutes an epidemic anyway?
As it is, it takes a couple of deaths for the government to fund interstate rails or stop lights or fancy railroad crossings. The world is guilty of apathy unless a few deaths result, or a few hundred in some cases.