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We've posted this before; will post it again.
There is no place on the Internet with as comprehensive info on SARS as TimeBomb2000. TB2K has daily SARS threads as well as complimentary threads. There are links to all the other SARS info outlets on these threads.
TB2K runs on vB the same as allnurses, so the software will be familiar to you. The Search engine is excellent: use it! Type in SARS and see how many threads you'll get: all chock-full of important info.
Every day brings more and more news and data about precautions.
TimeBomb2000:
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=9
Use the Search engine.
Clickable hot link:
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=9
TimeBomb2000
One of the sites I follow which has great links is
http://Http://www.Sarswatch.org
It's a blog but he has put reliable data and his source of info.
Once again, interesting article in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to which I can't find a link. It was supposedly first posted in a Philly paper, Knight Ridder. Anyway, this is the title of the paper.. US called ill-equipped for SARS. It is about a GAO study and this is a summary of what it says. Most hospitals lack adequate equipment, isolation facilities and staff to handle a large scale infectious disease outbreak. At the annual meeting of ER docs in DC this is what was said. "The current SARS outbreak is like a two acre fire in a timber dry forest." Things could easily go from bad to worse. "Emergency rooms are now near the breaking point because hospitals are overcrowded with non-emergency patients who are housed in trama units while waiting for beds, medicaid cuts are squeezing budgets and serious nursing shortages make everything even worse. Because of these problems, big city emergency rooms were closed to ambulances for an average of 162 hours in 2001." I might point out that since 2001 many states have cut back on psych services and now ERs are being crowed with patients with mental health problems waiting to be admitted. So the situation is likely worse now than in previous years. If this disease makes a second pass and the US gets hit in the future much harder than it has this time we are in big trouble. The problems probably vary from city to city and I think the Burg hospitals are probably better off than most. We have only lost 2 or 3 ERs in last 3 years. You don't want to be in CAlifornia when the big crunch comes.
I think the biggest mistake Canada made was to differentiate and report suspect vs probable cases. Anyone who has a cold and a fever can fit into the suspect category.
Contact with someone who has SARS and chest X-ray changes confirm a potential case from a suspect case. It is unfortunate but the world is considering anyone who has been to Toronto and later comes down with a cold as a suspect case. All 19 current potential SARS patients are in the hospital, no new cases in well past the 20 day period of safety.
Like Mike Myers said last night on the tonight show, the only way to get SARS in toronto is to break into a hospital, find the SARS ward and break into there and then kiss the patient. It is almost laughable how some people are being diagnosed with SARS just because they passed through Toronto.
Certainly everyone must stay on their guard, but really, a little intelligence must be used as well.
oramar
5,758 Posts
Didn't get news on till after 7pm last night. Caught tale end of SARS report. It is out of control in China and we all knew that. There was something disturbing about possibility of people being infectious for a lot longer than orginally thought. Also, I saw report on internet about relapses and new cases in Toronto. Anyone have links?