Guest guest Posted May 1, 2003 Report Share Posted May 1, 2003 Quoting KD Weber <wvadreamin: > THANKS to: americanfreedomnews.com and rense.com > > ..... a diary on the battle against the virus by Paul Caulford, a doctor > at the Scarborough hospital, epicentre of Toronto's Sar's outbreak: * * > * " Later the same day I was informed that three family doctors in a > four-man community practice just down the road - colleagues I would see > at educational events or medical dinners - had become ill with Sars > after treating a patient with the disease who came to their office. The > patient had broken quarantine. Two of the doctors have young children. > Unfortunately, we have learned that with Sars almost 100% of household > contacts become infected themselves. Only one of the doctors treated the > Sars patient, the other two simply worked in the same office. We have > learned that the virus is highly virulent and some patients are " super > shedders " . The three doctors remain critically ill and on respirators in > intensive care. Sars is challenging all of us, asking something new of > us. It is asking us to put the needs of others ahead of our own. It is > reminding us that this is what we signed up for, even if we never > imagined it could really happen. That evening I was on duty in the > refugee health clinic. A few family doctors throw in some time to > volunteer at a medical clinic for new arrivals to Canada who have no > health insurance. The war in Iraq had made it a very busy place lately. > Many immigrants - more than usual - were arriving from the United > States. One, a young nurse, was halfway through her first pregnancy. She > had arrived from Guangdong province in China in March. Contrary to the > official line, she told me thousands were ill there. The outbreak there > had begun as long as nine months to a year ago. She told me it had > become impossible to quarantine all those who were ill, and many were > dying. It made me worry a bit more. " Perhaps I'm paranoid, but that > excerpt from Paul Caulford's diary convinces me that patients breaking > quarantine could have put SARS back out in the community. Even that one > man who broke quarantine could have started the incubation of new cases. > I hadn't heard before that some patients are super-shedders of the > virus. Before yesterday there weren't any reports I saw about how bad > the disease is. A Monday report in the SUN describes it in terms that > make it look like a fate worse than death. Terrible muscle ache, you > can't get comfortable, can't breathe, sleep or eat and it goes on and on > for weeks with long excruciating periods where it feels like your joints > and limbs are on fire. One struggling patient infected 15 doctors and > nurses in Toronto. And that's why you see images of distraught nurses, > including the one in Taiwan that tried to jump from a hospital window. > Seeing the effects of SARS and knowing you might get it yourself is > traumatic. Clement and the province and news reports here tell us that > SARS is tailing off. But Paul Caulford's diary tells us how it has hung > on and grown for nearly a year in China. Since the province now only > tells us of probable cases - not suspect - in Toronto, it will appear as > if SARS is fading fast. Yet it is still possible that Clement and > friends are playing with fire. SARS is the real danger and not a minor > travel advisory from the World Health Organization. If they make any > more mistakes in containing it here large numbers of us are going to > burn with the disease. Tony Clement's wonderful Tuesday and the lifting > of the travel advisory may be an illusion, hiding a terrible Tuesday > waiting up the road. http://www.rense.com/general37/sre.htm > > > SARS fears close school in Youngstown, Ohio > Fears of the SARS virus are extending spring break. There's no school > today in Weathersfield. The high school's band traveled to Toronto last > week, where many cases of the virus have been reported Full Story > http://www.wkbn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1253114 > > US health officials ready to quarantine Americans > Top U.S. health officials said yesterday that they are prepared to > quarantine people to battle the killer SARS virus if it becomes an > epidemic in this country. > Full Story http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/78982p-72695c.html > > China seals off hospitals and > medical clinics > At least 128 medical facilities, including 25 hospitals, were sealed > off and more than 8000 people were locked in quarantine yesterday in the > Chinese capital, Beijing, as the number of cases of Severe Acute > Respiratory Syndrome in China passed 3000 and the death toll continued > its inexorable climb. > Full Story > http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6352582^401,00.html > > Chinese police check drivers around Beijing for SARS symptoms > Police in Beijing and nearby areas were stopping vehicles to check > drivers and passengers for SARS symptoms, and at least one county has > barred traffic from the capital in hopes of keeping out the virus. > Full Story http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/28/1051381902346.html > > > Chinese military place on high alert for possible martial law > China has put its military on high alert in preparation for large-scale > contingency measures -- including the possible closure of Beijing and > imposition of martial law -- to tackle the severe acute respiratory > syndrome (SARS) outbreak, according to a Chinese-language Web site. > Full Story > http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2003/04/28/203785 > > British doctors given new quarantine powers > Sweeping new powers to control the spread of Sars that allow doctors to > detain sufferers against their will may be introduced by the > Government. > Full Story http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-661696,00.html > > > > About 30 per cent of doctors and para medical staff at the Infectious > Diseases Hospital, did not report to work today for the scare of > contracting the deadly corona virus after a patient was declared SARS > positive yesterday. Panic spread among the staff and visitors last > evening after reports from Pune-based National Institute of Virology > confirmed Radheshyam Gupta, as the city's second SARS victim on his > return from Bankok. http://www.rense.com/general37/staff.htm > > Canada's cabinet met on Tuesday in a show of support for the city that > has had the highest number of SARS deaths outside of Asia, and officials > later welcomed the World Health Organization (WHO) decision to rescind a > travel warning to Toronto. Gathered at a downtown hotel, the ministers > said they would do their best to support Toronto, whose economy is > reeling from the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome. > http://www.rense.com/general37/whodrops.htm > > The numbers suggest the opposite -- that the disease is growing steadily > and is on track for a potentiality in, for example, October 2003, of > over 500,000 cases worldwide. http://www.rense.com/general37/latest.htm > > The World Health Organisation warned today that Sars could yet become an > endemic disease if further outbreaks are not contained. To prevent such > a human tragedy from occurring, all affected governments must enforce > meticulous screening to detect every new case of Sars, Dr. David > Heymann, the Who's chief of communicable diseases, told an emergency > summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Bangkok, the Thai capital. > http://www.rense.com/general37/end.htm > > Exhausted health workers on the front line of Toronto's battle against > SARS must also cope with the frightening knowledge that they are most at > risk, and there is no fail-proof way to protect them. Hospital workers > are now required to wear double layers of gloves, full-face shields, > masks and goggles and repeatedly wash their hands. > http://www.rense.com/general37/exha.htm > > A hospital chief last night gave a warning to people who think they have > the deadly Sars virus: " Don't come here. " Michael McCabe, director of > accident and emergency at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, said it would be > a disaster if someone wandered into casualty because of the risk of > contamination. http://www.rense.com/general37/go.htm > > The fight against SARS in Ontario is led by the same provincial > government that brought us the Walkerton water disaster. They killed so > many full time nursing jobs that Toronto lacks staff to fight SARS, and > five frontline nurses quit today due to stress. Ontario's commissioner > of public health D'Cunha is saying that the last community cluster date > of onset of SARS was on April 9. All of the cases caught afterwards have > been health-care workers. At the same time front page news says a > 44-year-old man has become the first otherwise healthy person in Canada > to die of SARS. He was exposed to the virus during a visitation at > Toronto's Highland Funeral Home. Health officials had asked anyone who > was at the funeral home on April 3 to go into isolation for 10 days to > prevent the spread of the disease. We don't know as fact that the virus > hasn't passed into the community in some way. And it is simple logic to > see that a virus will spread anew if it finds any avenue of transit. > Many more people are wasting away on respirators and new cases could be > in the incubation phase. In Toronto all doctors' offices and clinics > have you fill out a form before entering. If you circle yes to any SARS > symptoms, which could be as small as muscle ache, you have to go to > other facilities. It is possible SARS could spread on public transit as > people travel to other locations for treatment. There may be a few > avenues of escape that the virus has taken advantage of and if that is > the case it will break out again and make a mockery of the current dog > and pony show about the end of SARS. Currently the media, politicians > and public health officials have taken this new Toronto the Good and > SARS-free hoopla so far that it is bothersome even if they are correct > in their assumptions. Media's new role is to collaborate with > politicians and business associations. They decide what the story and > the truth should be and then work to turn the public into cheerleaders > for their propaganda. > > The Star, Sun and Globe are business groups and Star publisher John > Honderich's most recent article is titled " : Toronto - it's time for all > of us to pull together. And shop and cheerlead for Toronto and oppose > the WHO and generally pretend that happy thoughts will make SARS go > away. http://www.rense.com/general37/sartt.htm > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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