Curbing the SARS panic
May 6, 2003 | 12:00am
Bothered by the fact that even my daughter seems to be afflicted with the SARS panic, I set out to learn more about the disease. As a mother and one working in a fitness facility with a traffic of 600 people a day, I went past my SARS news-info-overload and actively looked for more information.
Summer vacation is almost over and I naturally planned outings whenever our busy business schedules would allow them. Then, my family’s SARS phobia sets in. "Why ride a plane? Mama, buy me an N95 respirator. Oh no, Mama, N95 is almost out-of-stock. Did you get me one already?"
Exasperated, I started my quest for the truth.
Shunde in China is an hour south of Guangzhou. Located there is the Dongguan animal market where cages of snakes, chickens, cats, turtles, badgers, and frogs are stacked one atop another.
One of the first SARS victim is a snake and bird dealer who died at Shunde’s First People’s Hospital. His wife and several hospital staff contracted it as well. Around the same time in December 2002, Huang Xinchu, a chef was admitted to Heyuan People’s Hospital infecting eight doctors there. On Jan. 2, another very ill chef was hospitalized in Zhongshan setting off an outbreak. Here, 13 hospital attendants who then infected 15 others.
January was the peak of the outbreaks in Shunde, Heyuan, and Zhongshan. By February, sick patients from small cities were flocking to Guangzhou for treatment. From Feb. 2 to Feb. 4, a very sick man from Zhongshan made the rounds of emergency rooms in Guangzhou seeking treatment to improve his condition. Dozen of health workers, unaware of the deadly pneumonia, did not isolate the man and wore no protective gear.
On Feb. 21, a Zhongshan lung specialist Dr. Liu Jianlun attended his nephew’s wedding in Hong Kong even though he had a very high fever. He stayed at the Metropole hotel where he passed SARS to other guests: Two Canadians, an American businessman proceeding to Hanoi, a Hong Kong man and three young women from Singapore.
He went to the Kwang Wah hospital in Hong Kong where he advised shocked doctors and nurses about the mysterious pneumonia ravaging his hometown. He advised them to place him in isolation behind double panes of glass and to wear protective gear before his exam. He passed away several days later with no one in the hospital getting infected. Unfortunately, Dr. Jianlun’s story was not shared with anyone else in Hong Kong.
Unknown to the nine guests of the hotel, they were already live breeding grounds for the coronavirus. The woman from Toronto, Canada, Kwan Sui-Chu, died in a Toronto hospital on March 5. She infected her son and at least five health workers. Canada now has reported 140 SARS cases, 15 of whom died.
Johnny Chen, the American businessman, fell ill at a Hanoi hospital in late February. He infected 20 hospital attendants including Dr. Carlo Urbani. The later, who died last month, was the one who alerted the World Health Organization.
The Hong Kong man was admitted at the Prince of Wales hospital, setting off a huge outbreak.
The three young women from Singapore fell ill when they reached the city. Two of the women infected no one else but the other one, Esther Mok, was a super-spreader. More than 90 people fell ill at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, accounting for more than half of the SARS cases in Singapore. Mok has recovered but many of her relatives became ill, including her parents who died of the disease.
In terms of symptoms, SARS is like pneumonia or influenza. Fever is high at 100.4°F (38°C) or higher and may be accompanied by chills. Patients also have headache, general feeling of malaise, body aches, and dry cough. Notably absent, according to the Mayo Clinic, are symptoms normally associated with colds, such as sneezing and a runny nose.
SARS begins with a high fever that occurs two to seven days after infection although symptoms may not appear for up to 10 days. Two to seven days later, a dry cough may ensue. In some cases, SARS develops into severe pneumonia leading to insufficient amount of oxygen in the blood (hypoxemia).
According to the Mayo Clinic, like most respiratory illnesses, SARS spreads through droplets when a sick person coughs. In droplet transmission, infected particles are large enough to travel three feet and to inhale them, you literally must be in front of the person.
No specific tests for SARS are yet available so diagnosing can be difficult. A chest x-ray will help detect lung inflammation and respiratory distress condition. A small probe may also be attached to your finger or ear and linked to a computerized unit that displays the percentage of oxygen in your red blood cells. This is called pulse oximetry. Another test is the sputum gram stain and culture. A positive result on this means that you have bacteria-causing respiratory disease in your body that normally rules out SARS, a viral infection.
• Use soap and running water.
• Rub your hands vigorously as you wash them.
• Wash all surfaces, including backs of hands, wrists, between fingers and under fingernails.
• Rinse well and leave the water running until after drying hands.
• Dry hands with a single-use towel.
• Turn off the faucet using a paper towel.
They also advise that hands should be washed on the following occasions: Before eating, after using the bathroom, after changing diapers, before and after handling raw meat, poultry or fish, after touching animals, after handling money, after blowing your nose, after coughing or sneezing on your hands, before and after treating wounds or cuts.
When washing hands with soap and water is not feasible, a hand sanitizer is the best alternative. When rubbed into hands for approximately 15 seconds, hand sanitizers kill approximately 99.9 percent of germs.
WHO and CDC have released other preventive measures such as using a disposable tissue to rub your nose or eyes instead of using your hand and covering the mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
The use of surgical masks, respirators or gloves is currently not recommended in the general workplace (except for health workers).
While it is true that it is better to be safe than sorry, I don’t think that we should be scared to the point of not leading our lives normally. A lot, our family included, have already cancelled trips particularly to SARS-affected countries. Maybe that is one reason why domestic tourism is upbeat and, God willing, will continue to be free of the SARS scare.
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