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SARS and the Internet
AndroidCat writes "In this story scientists who cracked SARS' genetic code credit the Internet as a key: 'The Internet has had a profound impact on how this data has been shared and how scientists have collaborated.' The Internet has also been useful in containing the outbreak by facilitating online discussion by ER doctors. Not mentioned in the stories is that Toronto researchers who were in quarantine were able to stay in touch. Slashdot has also covered Distributed Computing Attacking SARS. Go Internet!"
When the telephone first came into widespread use did newspapers write articles about how the phone helped this or facilitated that?
What I'm really asking is why is this news? The Internet, designed for communication, has helped people communicate. I don't see this as a huge breakthrough.
This is where the 'net was originally useful. Things like (cyber) virus transmissions, playing games and selling stuff were add-ons. Ain't nothing wrong with commercial uses of the internet -- It's just a misunderstanding for new users that (mostly unimaginative) commercial use was anything close to it's original intent.
OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
They did a special issue back in the '90s, which was essentially a theoretical copy of Wired from about 20-ish years in the future. At any rate, one of the stories was about how mankind was almost wiped out by this horrific plague...which originated in China, interestingly enough...and the massive social change that resulted from it. There were two keys to developing a cure, in the story, one of them being that we'd cracked the human genome, which gave us an edge on understanding the virus' interaction with our DNA. The other key was the internet, because it allowed the remaining surviving researchers to collaboarate without physical proximity or risk of contagion. You see, most of the medical research community had been wiped out when they gathered for an emergency global conference...the disease was horrifically contagious. I wish I still had a copy of that issue, it was amazing.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
scientists who cracked SARS' genetic code credit the Internet
That's great. Now they know what it looks like. But, beyond that...... It seems to me that a great deal of effort is being placed on genetic squencing lately but, I haven't seen any advantages yet. They talk about using it for developing a vaccine or cure for the various diseases and I suppose that may happen in the future. Right now however, it seems that having a picture or genetic sequence of whatever virus isn't yielding much more than a poster for the wall. I can't help but wonder if time and effort wouldn't be better spent by these scientists concentrating on these diseases from more traditional angles.
Let me report the situation in Hong Kong. Perhaps this is the first regional economic hub to be affected, and well, it got hit pretty hard.
The tourism industry is down by 70%, restaurants, bars and popular entertainment spots, well, empty as people are staying at home.
However, there are industries that are surfing tidal waves that's sweeping the economy; and Internet has been one of them.
I just called the sales manager of our service provider, and business has never been so good in years! This is due to companies that's cancelling their business trips and meetings, conferences, etc has to be done online. Phones have been ringing non-stop, with queries from companies to speed up and upgrade their internet access. I guess that's the break that all these internet companies have been waiting for!!!
People suspected of contracting SARS are quarantined for 10 days; but communicate with their families via videophone donated by the telecommunication companies and the government.
Technology has never found better use, and importance!
Also enjoying boom are, the facemask industry, the herbal medicine industry (chinese herbs which are slow stock for a few years have been wiped out by hungry consumers), television industry, and, the food snack (instant noodles, etc).
Perhaps this is the break that this fast-paced region needs: some time to rest, breathe easy for a while. It isn't long before the pace picks up again and everything resumes to normal!
HKSAR territory resident, SARS-free for 5 weeks...
Last I heard the Canadians were saying that only 80 per cent of the people with SARS had that particular coronavirus, and 15 per cent of some samples of people with bad colds but no SARS did have that coronavirus.
While sequencing the virus seems generally useful, shouldn't these people be finding a pathogen ? You know, saving lives as opposed to rushing for the publication and the grant before the hype dies down ?
I live in Malaysia, which is relatively safe from SARS
I wouldn't really proclaim that it's "relatively safe from SARS" : All it takes it one infected person. Toronto (I am sitting in a building beside First Canadian Place in downtown Toronto right now...ground zero, if you will, of the Canadian epidemic) has suffered billions of dollars of economic damage, and some 23 deaths, because one sneezing person came home from a visit to Hong Kong. No one is safe from SARS, and the reality is that after we've got the vectors from the first person (which has largely been heroic health care staff who deserve tremendous respect), it's only a plane ride away from the next guy, and then it's all started again. For those who thought this was just a disease the elderly should worry about (as a hilarious Daily Show humored "If you're 80 with respiratory illness, you should make your peace with God before you go around licking doorknobs"), note that here in Toronto we've had a 39 and a 44 year old, both with no other reported medical conditions, die from SARS.
BTW: For those who think asking some questions at the airport, or doing thermal scans, are protection, realize that while they're better than nothing, they really are more of an illusion of safety than a true protection: They depend upon a person to be in a very specific state of the disease to be evident, but it's still extremely likely to get by in prior or latter stages, at which point it starts all over again. Why Toronto got hit hard while other cities didn't is largely a result of blind (bad) luck than anything else.
Thankfully the virus suspected, the coronavirus, they have had some success making vaccines for (unlike most other virses), so there is hope against this disease that is currently causing about a 6-7% death rate, and some claim that a vaccine is right around the corner. That'll hold us over until the next disease filters out of the "intensive livestock" of the provinces of China which has been quite effective at incompetently exporting weapons of mass destruction.
I can't say that I have anthing urgent to communicate via email, but the thought of people like these having to wade through all that crap makes me very angry, very angry indeed! *huff*huff*!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
So what's BC's excuse for not sharing that information with Toronto?
Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
I don't know about you guys but since the SARS scare, I've been checking out for deals to go to Toronto. Some people might say I'm crazy, but hey! Check this out: Free Trip to T.O.
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
Originally (say before the www), only geeks/researchers/academics used the internet. Finding information was hard, but what was there was good. You needn't have had to worry about worms, spam, trolls, keeping down the noise etc. Today, everyone uses the internet. There's a helluva lot more information online than was 10 years ago, but it is buried in commercial noise. So, it is still largely the geeks/researchers for whom the internet is a life-changing and profession-changing thing. For the rest of the world, it is mostly an entertainment and advertisement medium.
Err, why would BC think they had to? They're separate health ministries, and it's up to Toronto to keep themselves informed. I'm sure if the BC health ministry knew Toronto was in the dark, they would have warned them, but they were privy to the same information. The difference is that BC heeded the various warnings that were coming out of Asia, whereas Toronto either didn't notice or didn't heed those warnings.
Keep in mind, the other major factor to BC's relative success in the SARS outbreak was it's response. They chose to be highly proactive about any potential outbreaks. They ensured that doctors were warned ahead of time, and dictated a strict policy for how to handle potential cases (immediate quarantine). The Ontario health ministry didn't take these measures. Why, I don't know. Maybe they didn't know what was going on. Maybe they just didn't take it seriously enough. Either way, Ontario's initial failure was their own responsibility. Hopefully they've learned a lesson from all of this.
Meh, they have no idea. The Internet is an extremely useful source of information. Any time I need to know something, I just head to the 'Net.
Here are some examples of what I've used the Internet for (besides all the programming and normal computer junk I do):
- I wanted to know how to make those hollow egg shell decorations for Easter. Looked it up on the 'Net.
- Someone asked me if I knew how to spell chlamydia (I could hardly guess how to spell it; thanks Google) and if it was a bacterial infection. Looked it up on the 'Net.
- I needed the blue book value of several cars I was helping a friend look for. Head to the 'Net.
- I needed some tax forms from the IRS and my state. They're all on the 'Net.
- Tons of DMV stuff can be done on the 'Net. license renewalls have never been so quick and easy.
- I needed some hummingbird pictures for a nephew who is learning to paint and needed some color samples.
- I do almost all my shopping online (especially for gifts). No more travelling 20 miles to find they don't even stock what I was looking for.
- I got a weird engine check code on my car and needed to know how to fix it. Online forums are great.
- I got more information on the Pony Express Rally that I plan on competing in next year.
- I wanted to set up an official sized vollyball court in my backyard and got the dimensions on the 'Net.
And that's just in the past few days/weeks. I could go on and on.
I find the 'Net invaluable.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The entire reason for the Toronto case was inept health care workers that were not on the lookout for these symptoms
Yes, because every single health care worker in Ontario is inept, and every single health care worker in BC is brilliant and informed. BULLSHIT, and it points a giant flashlight on your naevity. Both system of health care workers have access and knowledge of the same information (Ontario's government put out the same alert as BC), but BC got LUCKY (yes, LUCKY) because the front-line worker who got the first case happened to be one rare individual who kept up on the updates, while Toronto got unlucky that the front-line worker there didn't. I assure you, and I'll say this with certainty, that both locals probably have the same ratio of people who follow the medical listservs and those who don't. Don't buy into the politicizing BS lines from those who want to use a situation for their political advantage.
Sure there have been some "younger" people die from SARS in Toronto but most are very old.
Did I say otherwise? There have been a 39 and a 44 year old healthy males dying. The doctor who first alerted the West was in perfect shape and died at 44 in Hong Kong. There are very few illnesses that do that in a 10 day period (and they are among the world's most feared).
A nurse travelled on a commuter train from Toronto to Burlington and back WITHOUT INFECTING ANYBODY.
Thanks for the lesson, Sherlock. The funny thing is that I take that GO train. The nurse in question didn't talk or sneeze during the entire ride, which was likely the saving grace. In Hong Kong whole apartment complexes, or a large percentage thereof, have come down with it just by going by each other in common areas, and you're pretending they have to French kiss each other to get it.
If you are not around a hospital with an infected person, you have no chance of contacting the virus.
Did you miss the whole point of my message? A individual in Malaysia claimed that they were "safe" from SARS in Malaysia : No they aren't. It's one guy who thinks he has a cold and is too manly to see his doctor that could cause a major outbreak. We have it contained in Canada due to extraordinary measures of health care workers (despite the know-it-all armchair criticism of assholes like you, or politicians trying to score some point by stabbing them in the back), but it takes just one more guy flying in, and one more bit of bad luck. This holds true for the entire world, btw, not just Canada. As a Canadian I'm under little increased risk than a guy in Phoenix or New Zealand : Unless you shut down global travel...
Stop the sensationalism.
Oh, gee, I'm sorry. 6% death rate. 23 dead in Toronto alone (ignore the indirect death rate, which is those that are going to die because of deferred treatment due to a devastated health care system). SARS is very likely to take hold in third world nations that can't effectively contain it, and it may very well become a part of life. Sticking your head in the sand and proclaiming that it's no biggie.
Western technology has successfully fought the Chinese cover up. The Internet and the blinding speed with which it transmits information has effectively thwarted all attempts by the Chinese to cover up their problem. In fact, here is a sampling of the information about SARS that is readily available from the Internet.
"How the 'global village' faced SARS"
"Experts Expect SARS to Continue Spreading"
"More SARS Cases Are Reported; Virus Found to Persist in Patients"
"China and SARS"
15 years ago, if an epidemic like SARS had erupted, I would have had a much harder time in finding information describing its origin and its symptoms. Now, thanks to the Internet, I know that the Chinese in Southern China "helped" to develop this disease by sleeping with farm animals. The virus crossed the species barrier from, probably, a pig into humans. The Chinese then covered up the problem and, thus, helped to spread it to the rest of the world. According to the latest reports, the SARS virus will now become a permanent part of this world.
Isn't this tired myth dead yet?
Fuck, I just debunked it less than two weeks ago. Guess you're one of the millions who don't browse at +3. :-)
It was all about research. Not necessarily acedemic, but research.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)