Sars biological weapon?
Panic replacing logic on SARS, says former Health Chief
World Health Organization: Corona Virus Theory Wobbles
Informative Humor: SCUFFLES AS HIV, WEST NILE PROTEST OVER SARS HYPE
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SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome): A Great Global SCAM
Sars biological weapon?
[Lets see, a Russian scientist thinks this is a mixture of Measles (M) and Mumps (M) virus.
Now where do we find M and M mixed together, Aw I remember now, MM&R vaccine! Naw...]
Read the story online:
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1346560,00.html
Sars biological weapon?
Apr 11 2003 03:13:51:200PM
The deadly pneumonia that has killed more than 100
people around the world may be a man-made biological
weapon.
Moscow - The deadly pneumonia that has killed more
than 100 people around the world may be a man-made
biological weapon, Russian experts said on Friday.
Nikolai Filatov, head of Moscow's epidemiological
services, told the Gazeta daily that he thought the
pneumonia was man-made because "there is no vaccine
for this virus, its make-up is unclear, it has not
been very widespread and the population is not immune
to it."
Yet he had some reservations, since the virus has a
low mortality rate - so far killing 4% of those
infected -, and because it is relatively difficult to
pass on - through direct contact or inhalation.
The virus, according to academy of medecine member
Sergei Kolesnikov, is a cocktail of mumps and measles,
whose mix could never appear in nature.
"We can only get that in a laboratory," he told a
conference in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, quoted by
RIA Novosti news agency.
It may have spread because of an "accidental leak"
from a lab, he added.
More than 100 people have died and some 3 000 others
have been infected by Severe acute respiratory
syndrome (Sars), which is believed to have originated
in China's southern Guangdong province.
Panic replacing logic on SARS, says former Health Chief
Source: http://www.sarstravel.com/schabas.htm
Dr. Richard Schabas was Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health from 1987
until 1997. He is still active in public health as a speaker, author and
consultant.
"SARS may disappear as mysteriously as it appeared. This could happen if
SARS is insufficiently infectious to sustain transmission in our social
environment."
Panic replacing logic on SARS, says former Health Chief
April 24 2003 SarsTravel.com
FROM CANADIAN PRESS
People in Toronto have a far greater chance of dying from influenza, a car
crash or smoking than they do from SARS, says Dr. Richard Schabas, who's
among health professionals in the SARS trenches nearly round the clock.
"This terrible panic that has seized Toronto is leaving the popular
impression that the SARS outbreak is growing and it's spreading in the
community — nothing could be further from the truth," Schabas, chief of
staff at York Central Hospital in nearby Richmond Hill, said in an
interview today.
Still, panic is slowly replacing logic as SARS worries spread, said
Schabas, Ontario's former chief medical officer of health.
"Certainly SARS is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with
seriously," he wrote in a commentary in the Canadian Medical Association
Journal which was released Wednesday on the journal's Web site.
"Yet our actions must be based on facts and experience, not on fears. The
response should not be worse than the disease."
These are the facts: every case of SARS in Toronto can be traced to the
original case. There are currently about 100 people in hospital in Ontario,
almost all of them in the Toronto area, with suspect or probable SARS. The
number is decreasing: a week ago, 128 people were in hospital.
Of the 16 Toronto-area residents who have died from the syndrome, only two
were under the age of 60. Most were 70 or older; one victim was 99. Like
any acute infection, the elderly and those with poor immune systems are
most at risk of death.
Infection-control professionals stress that SARS is restricted to hospital
settings.
"We have not seen and continue to not see casual transmission of cases,"
James Young, Ontario's safety commissioner, told media Wednesday. "It is
perfectly safe to walk down the streets in Toronto."
But that doesn't stop the fears of people like Sheila Odorico, a
hairdresser in Burlington, just west of Toronto. Odorico, 36, won't be
visiting relatives in Toronto until SARS dies down.
"I even wear rubber gloves now cutting my customers' hair," said Odorico.
"No way I'm going into Toronto for now."
"When SARS first arrived, there was great apprehension it would be the next
pandemic," Schabas said in the interview. "People have been so worried
about what SARS might do that they're not paying attention to what it's not
doing.
"It's really only ever been a hospital problem, and since we've put
precautions in place in Toronto-area hospitals, the number of cases has
really nose-dived."
Schabas has determined that in the two-month period since SARS hit Ontario,
there have been about 100 deaths from influenza, 200 deaths from
motor-vehicle crashes and 2,000 deaths from tobacco addiction.
And for anyone thinking just breathing Toronto air will give you SARS,
Schabas offers this: it is most likely transmitted by respiratory droplets,
not spread in the air. That means someone with SARS would have to
practically sneeze on you or touch your face after touching theirs to pass
it on. It is also unlikely to be spread by brief contact.
Still, Wednesday's WHO warning — which marked the first time an area
outside Asia has been targeted — left many Canadians wondering if they
should avoid Toronto. Health Minister Jane Purves of Nova Scotia advised
residents of the province to put off non-essential travel to Toronto.
Dr. Donald Low, one of Canada's leading infection control professionals,
was livid about the WHO's warning.
"I think that I would be the first to say that if I was concerned about
risk of transmission (to travellers), I sure wouldn't want to put anybody
at risk. But I don't see any evidence to support that," said Low,
microbiologist-in-chief at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
In his commentary in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Schabas
noted the "future of SARS is uncertain.
"A number of scenarios are plausible. The disease may yet develop into a
major pandemic, with explosive growth in the number of cases, but I
consider this very unlikely given the behaviour of the outbreak to date.
"At the opposite extreme, SARS may disappear as mysteriously as it
appeared. This could happen if SARS is insufficiently infectious to sustain
transmission in our social environment."
World Health Organization
Corona Virus Theory Wobbles
Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-655988,00.html
Source: http://www.sarstravel.com/sars_wobbles.htm
World Health Organization
Corona Virus Theory Wobbles
by Fintan Dunne SarsTravel.com April 23, 2003
For the last ten days we have been telling you the World Health
Organization(WHO) research team were getting it all wrong. Today, the Times
of London is reporting that scientists: "have suffered a setback after
finding that the [corona]virus blamed for the potentially fatal disease was
not present in most patients taken ill."
What an admission! Because on April 16, the WHO officially said corona
virus was the cause of SARS. But see what the top Canadian researcher in
SARS, Dr. Frank Plummer, scientific director of the Canadian National
Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, told the London Times:
"Only 40 per cent of the people with what we call Sars have the corona
virus. We have found no other virus but the connection between Sars and
corona is actually very weak," he said.
In fact, the percentage of Canadian SARS samples in which the official
cause of SARS can be found has declined, according to Dr. Plummer's
statements to the media, from 60% to 50% and now, to 40%.
And not only is Dr. Plummer finding corona virus in only a minority of
so-called SARS cases, but as reported on SarsTravel.com over a week ago, he
has been finding so little of the virus that he doubts it could be the cause.
WIDE IMPLICATIONS
The implication of all this for the current SARS theory advocated by the 11
WHO laboratories engaged on SARS research are potentially very embarrassing
if not downright catastrophic. Dick Thompson, a spokesperson for the WHO,
kicked to touch on the possible consequences.
"For now, we stand by our view that the corona virus is the cause, but what
we need to investigate is why we have this anomaly in Canada," he told the
London Times. His use of the words "for now" is ominous in this context.
And Dr. Marc-André Beaulieu, senior medical adviser with Health Canada,
told The Times that all scientists and government departments working on
Sars should now be "more prudent".
In other words, as SarsTravel.com has maintained, there has been a rush to
judgment by the WHO and other health authorities.
The claimed 200 plus deaths from SARS are but a subset of the three to four
million deaths annually, worldwide from "regular" pneumonia.
If there is to be any validity to extracting these deaths from the
generality of pneumonia cases, there must be an underlying pathogen present
in the vast majority of cases. SARS does not derive any scientific validity
merely because it is a catchy acronym.
So, will the WHO and other health authorities now cut their claimed SARS
cases to only those which show presence of corona virus? No. They will
still play the numbers game by focussing on "probable" cases. Cases of
what, exactly? That's the key question now.
SUPERSPREADERS OF WHAT?
Because even if corona virus is present, there is very little of it there.
To be a valid cause of the claimed respiratory syndrome there must be
sufficient titers of the virus to exercise a debilitating effect on the
patients. SARS cases should be teeming with the virus.
Instead as Dr. Plummer had previously stated, there is so little that
researchers have had to rely on a tool of forensic scientists, Polymerase
Chain Reaction(PCR) to find copies of the virus. That's not good enough.
Another anomaly has plagued the SARS clinical definition. There seem to be
two varieties of the disease -not one.
The first has a low transmission rate. For example of the over 200
"probable" cases of SARS in the USA, the Centers for Disease Control has
reported no deaths and only 35 likely to be actually SARS. The five
patients tested by the CDC and found to have detectable corona virus have
all recovered. No hospital wards were closed. No epidemic has erupted.
By comparison, Hong Kong and Toronto have had significant in-hospital
transmission of the disease. That has led to the term "superspreaders"
being employed to try account for the anomaly.
However, while attending at the International Symposium on SARS in Taipei
on Monday, Hong Kong's Professor Yuen Kwok-yung has discounted the term.
Here's his exchange with the Taipei Times:
Taipei Times: One of the reasons why Taiwan has reported far fewer SARS
cases than Hong Kong and Singapore is that it Taiwan does not have any
"superspreaders." What makes "superspreaders" more contagious than other
patients of the disease?
Yuen Kwok-yung: We do not know exactly what a "superspreader" is at the
moment. This is basically an epidemiological definition, in which a lot of
people get infected by the same patient. They call the patient a
"superspreader." But the concept has not yet been proven.
Well said. A virus does not vary it's infectivity at will or ad hoc. Nor is
"mutation" of the virus either proven or likely to account for the
discrepancy. The "mutation" and "superspreader" concepts may be simply a
fudge to try account for the fact that there is no one definitive cause or
outcome for SARS.
Put another way, we are now skirting close to a realization that SARS is an
artificial and spurious assembly. Merely a small subset of the vast number
of existing pneumonia cases. No new unique disease. No proven viral cause.
Just sporadic incidents of high transmission of a pneumonia linked to open
sewage --as in the Amoy Gardens, Kong Kong outbreak. Theese are the kind of
sporadic anomalies we would anyway expect to find in any subset of the vast
number of pneumonia cases worldwide.
Therefore, just an epidemic of existing pneumonia wrapped in a new concept
called SARS.
MEME OR SYNDROME
The SARS concept is a meme --a term coined by Professor Richard Dawkins.
Memes are contagious information patterns which replicate by infecting
human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the
pattern.
Slogans, catch-phrases, and fashions are typical memes. In our instant
electronic world, pernicious memes like SARS can spread faster than any
disease pathogen. Right now, the SARS meme is has gripped health
authorities and the public.
It's effects are out of all proportion to proven health dangers. It is now
time for responsible journalism. And as we argued over a week ago, it's
time for prudent, well researched and balanced pronouncements about SARS by
health authorities.
Times ARticle
April 23, 2003
Scientists find there is no quick cure for Sars
By James Doran in Toronto and Oliver Wright
SCIENTISTS searching for a cure for severe acute respiratory syndrome
(Sars) have suffered a setback after finding that the virus blamed for the
potentially fatal disease was not present in most patients taken ill.
The World Health Organisation announced last week that the corona virus —
responsible for the common cold — was at the root of the epidemic of a
virulent strain of pneumonia. But Dr Frank Plummer, scientific director of
the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, refuted the
claim yesterday afterweeks of intensive research into the disease that has
killed 14 people in Toronto.
"Only 40 per cent of the people with what we call Sars have the corona
virus. We have found no other virus but the connection between Sars and
corona is actually very weak," he said.
A WHO spokesman said that it was aware of the Canadian findings and was
investigating. Dick Thompson, for the WHO, said that in previous tests
carried out for the organisation the corona virus had been present in 90
per cent of all cases. "For now, we stand by our view that the corona virus
is the cause, but what we need to investigate is why we have this anomaly
in Canada," he said. "One possibility is that it has been present in all
the cases but is simply not being picked up at the time of testing. All the
cases in Canada came from one infected person. We need to see if the virus
has mutated."
On April 16, Dr Klaus Stohr, of the WHO, released the results of a series
of experiments on monkeys infected with Sars. "We can now say with all
confidence that the causative agent of Sars is the corona virus first
detected in Hong Kong on March 21," he said. But Dr Marc-André Beaulieu,
senior medical adviser with Health Canada, said that all scientists and
government departments working on Sars should now be "more prudent".
The announcement by Canadian officials came as researchers in British
Columbia claimed to be doing a trial of a test for Sars on patients with
suspected or probable symptoms of the disease. The researchers said that
they were making progress and hoped to have a test available to the public
within weeks.
But Dr Beaulieu said: "In order to develop a good diagnostic test you have
to have a clear definition of the cause. For us this means we now have to
be more prudent. We are saying that we would prefer to have a much more
clear understanding of what causes the disease."
The revelations from Health Canada coincided with an emergency meeting
between Canadian health officials and senior officials from the American
Centres for Disease Control. American officials have become increasingly
worried about the spread of Sars over the US-Canadian border. Travellers to
Toronto are being asked to monitor their health while in the city and
during the ten days after their return.
A Briton may have died from the virus after returning to Wales from a
holiday in Thailand. Tests are being conducted to see if a 33-year-old man
who died at his home in Pontypridd, South Wales, had the virus.
Staff at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, in Llantrisant, are taking steps to
prevent any spread of the contagious disease if the result is positive.
SCUFFLES AS HIV, WEST NILE PROTEST OVER SARS HYPE
http://homepage.eircom.net/~sars/virus_protest.htm
SCUFFLES AS HIV, WEST NILE PROTEST OVER SARS HYPE
by Fintan Dunne SarsTravel.com April 21, 2003
WASHINGTON, DC --Scuffles broke out after a protest Sunday by viruses
--aimed at countering SARS media dominance. Earlier HIV and West Nile
viruses had gathered peacably in front of the White House to hear speakers
denounce the media and SARS.
"Time to take a stand against this jumped up runny nose," an unidentified
HI virus told the crowd to cheers. "Go back to the sewage you came from."
Earlier, at a press conference the media had come in for heavy criticism.
"We need balanced reporting of disease, a West Nile spokesvirus told
reporters. "Fifty times as many people die from influenza and regular
pneumonia worldwide in one day, than have died so far from SARS."
Viruses handed out press information packs detailing what they maintain are
gross flaws in SARS diagnostic criteria. "SARS is not even a proper
disease," the handout claims. "Take out those who later prove to be just
ordinary pneumonia and you are left with a few hundred SARS cases."
"Even then, 96% of people with SARS recover. Ten times that many never get
symptoms bad enough to seek treatment. Today, in Canada they just admitted
that only half of cases have this pathetic corona virus. So the real
fatality rate is probably 0.05%." reads the handout produced by the Joint
HIV & West Nile Action Group.
STRUGGLING
"We are struggling. This may be curtains for AIDS," a dejected HI virus
admitted to reporters. "Do you realize there were only 221 new Canadian
cases of AIDS diagnosed in 2001. And, cases have declined every year from a
peak of 1,759 in 1993. Where did it all go wrong? It's a distant memory
from when HIV was getting this SARS level of publicity."
"Face it, every new disease, is gonna wipe the world out, thanks to you
guys in the media. But look at HIV today, twenty years on. We never even
managed to knock out the hookers. And that's a grim reality for an STD."
"But we could be a contender again. You gotta give us a fair media share."
Later, the protest meeting heard a West Nile speaker proclaim. "We West
Niles are for the birds -and a few humans thrown in too. But we need the
broad criteria that SARS enjoys. Cough and fever! That's gives SARS the
lions share of the market. And look at HIV, they got cervical cancer, fer
chrissake! That's not even immune system related. Clinical conditions
should be shared out equitably between all viruses. We want decent
conditions -we won't be fobbed off with ingrown toenails and nappy rash."
It was those comments about the wide range of medial conditions currently
included as AIDS-defining which seemed to incense some of the HI viruses on
the speaker's platform. Scuffles broke out among the viral representatives,
as police moved in with disinfectant to restore order.
"Shaddup West Nile," roared an outraged HI virus as police led it away.
"you're only petrochemical pollution you little MTBE gas additive jerk."
"Up yours," retorted a West Nile virus as the meeting broke up in disarray.
"AZT killed all the queers. You're just false positives."
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SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome): A Great Global SCAM