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Singapore Using Thermal Imaging to Check for SARS
Quixotic1 writes "Channel NewsAsia reports that Changi International Airport in Singapore, Asia's fourth-largest airport, is using walk-through thermal imaging devices to screen for people with SARS. 'If a person is feverish, reddish spots will apear all over his face [on the screen] and that person will then be set aside for further examination by the nurses.' A Reuters article says that the 'Infrared Fever Screening System' was originally developed for military purposes. They are being built by Singapore Technologies."
I don't think I'm paranoid, but this is starting to go overboard! On the other hand though we have SARS, which is pretty scare in itself. I understand why they are doing this, but what happens after SARS is nothing but history, if that happens at all? What reason will they give next time to check us for anything and everything?
A good, senseable use for airport security.
While a lot of folks will be up in arms over this, SARS is a large threat worldwide. Sure, this method will generate a lot of false positives, but it's probably less of an incovience than having to close down the airport and put a halt on all air travel, expecually in regions where SARS has a large presence.
To view the latest info on sars check out the world health organization's specific site:
http://www.who.int/csr/alertresponse/en/ [ www.who.int ]
That is all! -Naomi
I wish they would start doing this where I work. America is one of the countries in the world where going to work sick is considered a moral obligation. Many countries think spreading disease to your coworkers is bad for productivity.
Assuming it's not just used as an excuse to stop anyone and harass them, this seems like it's fairly harmless. It's fairly simple to screen anyone stopped by the system for symptoms of SARS, which obviously is not really true when screening for terrorists.
I just wonder how effective it would be. It only takes a few people entering the country to start spreading the disease. If you've got one person with SARS coming into the country ever, and your system has a 90% chance of stopping that one person, then it's pretty effective. If however, you've got one person a day coming through with SARS, well after a week there's a 50% chance you've let an infected person through.
In other words the detection rate of your system has to be in line with the incoming rate of infected people, otherwise it's fairly useless.
At this point I'm sure there's nowhere near one person a day coming through any airport with SARS. But I also doubt the airport will only have one person ever come through.
AccountKiller
If the only basis is face surface temperature, taking substance causing periferal vasoconstriction will fool the test - the surface temperature will be lower.
The most common potent drug causing peripheral blood vessel constriction is nicotine. I have even seen thermal imaging pictures of extremities (hands, feet) before and after smoking a single cigarette. The "cooling effect" of nicotine is quite dramatic.
I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it
Sure, only 150 people have been killed so far, but the worry is that it will spread out-of-control worldwide, infecting tens or hundreds of millions of people.
It is possible that people are being infected with the SARS virus without having a fever yet. How will they get screened?