GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

I'm speechless with anger.

Avoid it. Warn others to avoid opportunists with the "ebook of the week." I'd bet they don't know a culex pipens from a rannunculus. They sell fear and their information is ... often biased.

Looks -- the info on how to minimize your risk is FREE online from physicians. This is some (unprintable series of words here) who is getting rich from your fears. No credits, no anything, just LET ME SCARE THE DICKENS OUT OF YOU AND MAKE YOU GIVE ME MONEY!!

Here's the real poop (I was a teaching assistant for the Texas Tech Medical School's Department of Preventive Medicine back in 1980-1982. I took epidemiology.)

It's NOT as fatal as tuberculosis, hantavirus, and around as lethal as the flu. Death rate is only 4%. It spreads more slowly than the flu, in fact. It was first noted in November -- if it was as deadly or as quickspreading as the flu, there would be hospitals full of patients all over the world instead of a handfull of cases in most cities (exceptions being China, Hong Kong, and Toronto.)

Why is it so alarming? Well, they initially didn't have a treatment for it. It's a new disease (new diseases evolve in the wild all the time... viruses mutate. Sometimes they hop over to humans.) China has a poor health care system and they tend to under-report things to save face.

Incubation time is long... people don't show symptoms for several days after they're infected, and many have just mild cases of it. So when you quarrantine for it, you have to quarrantine a lot of people.

Was it created by terrorists/goverment/space aliens? No. As I said, new diseases evolve all the time. This may have come from bats.

Is it a coverup? Sort of. Most of the coverup is the very inept Chinese medical system and the "we are perfect" mentality of the bureaucrats.

Here's the Center for Disease Control site on it:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/

FAQS FROM http://www.ci.garland.tx.us/PRESS/sars.htm:

What are the symptoms and signs of SARS?

The official case definition of SARS from CDC has three parts:

1) Fever greater than 100.4°F [>38.0°C]
2) Lower respiratory symptoms, or laboratory abnormalities, including
· Cough
· Shortness of breath/dyspnea
· Hypoxia
· Radiographic changes compatible with pneumonia or ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome)

3) Travel or exposure history including
· Travel within 10 days of the onset of symptoms to an area with documented or suspected community transmission, specifically mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Hanoi (Vietnam), or close contact within 10 days of the onset of symptoms with (close contact defined as having cared for, lived with, or had direct contact with the respiratory secretions &/or body fluid of) either a person with a respiratory illness who traveled to the areas given above or a person known to have SARS.

Individuals must fulfill ALL 3 CRITERIA to be considered as a suspected case of SARS. Individuals with febrile respiratory illnesses without the travel or exposure history are NOT cases of SARS.

How is SARS spread?

The principal way SARS appears to be spread is through droplet transmission; namely, when someone sick with SARS coughs or sneezes droplets into the air and someone else breathes them in. It is possible that SARS ca be transmitted more broadly through the air or from objects that have become contaminated.

How long is a person with SARS infectious to others?

Information to date suggests that people are most likely to be infectious when they have symptoms, such as fever or cough. However, it is not known how long b3efore or after their symptoms begin that patients with SARS might be able to transmit the disease to others.

Who is most at risk of contracting SARS?

Individuals are at risk of contracting SARS if they have a history of travel (The CDC incubation period is 2 to 7 days) to the countries and areas with established chain of local transmission (Hong Kong; Mainland China; Toronto, Canada; Singapore; and Vietnam.).

Cases of SARS continue to be reported primarily among people who have had direct close contact with an infected person, such as those sharing a household with a SARS patient and health care workers who did not use infection control procedures while caring for a SARS patient.

In the United States, there is no indication of community transmission at this time. The CDC continues to monitor this situation very closely.

How many cases of SARS have been reported so far?

The Dallas County Health Department reports that as of April 9, 2003, there are 0 suspected cases of SARS in Dallas County. The CDC reports that 154 suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 30 states are under investigation in the U.S.

Five of the suspected cases are from Texas. All had traveled to Hong Kong, Singapore or the Guangdong province of China. The five are from Harris, Collin, Lubbock, Fort Bend and Travis counties. All are adults. None of the five is hospitalized. Two have recovered. Three are recovering. The Lubbock County resident, who has recovered, had not been in the county since becoming ill.

Texas Department of Health officials stress that all 154 cases in the U.S. are suspected cases under investigation, not confirmed or absolute.

More information about SARS is available on the Web at www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars.

How many individuals have died from SARS?

As of April 9, 2003, the World Health Organization reports that there are 2,722 cases of SARS worldwide, with most of the cases in Southeast Asia. Of these cases, 106 have died from the disease. For more information, visit the WHO website.

As of April 9, the CDC reports that 106 suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 30 states are under investigation in the U.S. Of these cases, the CDC is reporting that there have been no deaths in the United States from the disease.

What is being done to combat this health threat?

Local health departments are practicing surveillance in alerting area hospitals and physicians about the case definition for SARS. The Health Department is also working with TDH and CDC to address the SARS outbreak. For its part in this international effort, the CDC has taken the following actions:

· Activated its Emergency Operations Center to provide round-the-clock coordination and response.
· Committed more than 160 infectious disease experts and support staff to work on the SARS response.
· Deployed medical officers, epidemiologists, and other specialists to assist with on-site investigations around the world.
· Provided ongoing assistance to state and local health departments in investigating possible cases of SARS in the United States.
· Issued multiple notices providing guidance on ways to minimize the risk for SARS in health care facilities, in the household, when traveling, and in other settings.
· Conducted extensive laboratory testing of clinical specimens from SARS patients to identify the cause of the disease.
· Initiated a system for distributing health alert notices to travelers who may have been exposed to cases of SARS.