Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Help fight SARS

This is topic Help fight SARS in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Peter Berrett (Member # 672) on 04-25-2003, 08:07 AM:

Hi all

This is an idea I came across when visiting a Hong Kong expatriate's site at http://bigwhiteguy.com (by the way the site is well worth visiting especially for Randall's first-hand insight into the effects of SARS on the Hong Kong populace.)

quote:
The South China Morning Post has come up with a great idea to help front line medical workers stay healthy in the fight against SARS.

They've called it Project Shield.

The campaign's goal is to raise funds from business and individuals in order to purchase as many as 10,000 Barrierman suits per day:

SCMP donated the first 1,000 and this has been matched by the makers of the special suit DuPont.

Dr Ko Wing Man, Director (Professional Service and Public Affairs) said: "We are being faced with a new virus, and hence manpower, treatment module and medication are under immense pressure and challenge. We are very grateful that the South China Morning Post is joining hands with other committed organisations to show their support to public hospitals."

You can make your donation by filling out the details below or in the following ways:

Call our hotline numbers:
2250 3355 Monday to Friday or 2250 3356 on Saturday and Sunday. Quote your credit card number and the amount you would like to donate. Lines are manned from 9.30am to 6.30pm.

Make a bank transfer directly to Project Shield at the following HSBC account number: 567-602032-003

Mail your cheque, made out to ''Project Shield'', to the Marketing Department - Project Shield, South China Morning Post, 15th Floor, Somerset House, Taikoo Place, 979 King's Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong.

SCMP will acknowledge all donations.
On one hand, this is a great way for people in the community to express their appreciation for health-care workers in Hong Kong, whether or not they know someone being treated for SARS. It is a way to give something back, and I support the concept.

I think this is a worthwhile thing that we all can do and an effort that will save lives. Remember that the whole Hong Kong outbreak started with just one visitor from China.

As most of us are overseas we can donate using our credit cards (I have already made a donation) at the following website.

http://scmp.com (just follow the link on the main page).

Let's all do something practical to fight this disease. Each suit only costs a few $US.

cheers Peter

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 04-25-2003, 01:53 PM:

Since the SARS epidemic began recently in China, no one has mentioned what is to become of the next olympic games scheduled to be held in Beijing in a few years. I assume by the time the games are held, the epidemic will be a lot serious than it is now but there might be a few small countries that has not been exposed to the dreaded virus yet . By sending a team to compete in the ganmes not to mention families and friends who will travel to the games with the athletes from these countries, there is a very strong possibility, the SARS epidemic will become worldwide after the games. Do you think the games will go on as scheduled or will it be cancelled? Because the risk is too great, I personally feel they should cancell or let another city have the games and allow Beijin to host the games in the future when the risk of the world wide spread of SARS has been eliminated or diminished.

-Claude

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-25-2003, 02:40 PM:

The SARS virus seems like a pretty scary thing. It seems to have about the same level of fatality as cases of pneumonia.

But to put things in perspective, the Far East has much greater worries. The AIDS virus has spread to epidemic proportions and is poised to kill millions in China just in this decade. Other countries in the region have rapidly growing case loads. Just look at southern Africa and a number of countries there now with shrinking populations. This is a massive casualty count numbering well into the millions. While AIDS is still a very serious problem here in the United States, we have not seen the level of destruction that has happened in Africa and what will likely happen in Asia.

SARS is serious, but there are many more people in Asia dying everyday from AIDS. They're just not getting the press coverage.

Posted by Peter Berrett (Member # 672) on 04-25-2003, 07:39 PM:

It gets worse Bobby

If those with compromised immune systems (from AIDS) get SARS then I think they wouldn't have much chance. THe disease picks off those with weaker immune systems. In a sense SARS is the icing on AIDS cake.

It's scary to think what effect SARS could have in Africa. Millions of AIDS sufferers killed in a very short time. hopefully our doctors will be able to develop a vaccine soon.

cheers Peter

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-26-2003, 03:32 AM:

I've heard it said by others that SARS could be a biological weapon of sorts that the Chinese were developing that broke free unintentionally. I have no clue if that is true since I am sitting on my ass here in the US, but it is kind of interesting to think about especially with the population problems China has. Where has SARS been up until now? How did it suddenly come to be? Just curious.

I've also heard that AIDS was created to "get rid of the immoral people". Of course people like to say all sorts of things, but how do you seperate truth from BS? Nobody can be right about everything they believe.

Posted by Mike Rendall (Member # 1499) on 04-26-2003, 06:15 AM:

From the scientific point of view, these super-bugs are going to get worse as they get resilient to our modern medicines. In a wierd sort of way we are making it worse for the future by discovering and developing better drugs.

There is a program on TV in the UK about drug companies that have many drugs that have been developed that can ease the suffering of only those who can afford them.

Posted by Patrick McDonough (Member # 1363) on 04-26-2003, 09:05 AM:

kind of reminds me of the Stand.

Posted by Daniel Fuentz (Member # 1684) on 04-26-2003, 10:23 PM:

I just noticed this on Yahoo news, all cinemas in China are being closed due to SARS:

Yahoo News

Posted by John Schulien (Member # 215) on 04-26-2003, 11:21 PM:

I seriously doubt that SARS was designed as a biological weapon.

The best explanation I've heard about why new viruses seem to come from China has to do with their farming practices. Farms in rural China often raise pigs, ducks, and geese together.

Humans can't catch avian viruses.
Pigs can catch avian and human viruses.

So if a pig catches both a human and an avian virus, and both viruses infect the same cell, an opportunity exists for the two to exchange DNA and produce a new virus that might be capable of infecting humans.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 05-01-2003, 04:27 PM:

All three US weekly news magazines -- Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report -- have a cover story on SARS this week.

At least one reporter has the common sense to say the press is making SARS worse than it really is.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 05-02-2003, 09:03 AM:

quote:
All three US weekly news magazines -- Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report -- have a cover story on SARS this week.

And ALL three with almost exactly the same cover photo. [Smile]

Time SARS Cover

Newsweek SARS Cover

US News SARS Cover

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 05-02-2003, 12:18 PM:

That's why I stopped reading weekly news magazines years ago.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-02-2003, 05:29 PM:

I've heard conspiracy theory fans claim SARS was a biological weapon developed by an evil government organization, such as the United States' CIA. Of course, when examining what is possible with today's technology it becomes easy to refute government involvement.

Military groups can "weaponize" existing viruses and bacteria, but they do not have the technology to create a new one from scratch. Since the two strains of SARS identified are cousins of the common cold, I suppose there might be some outside chance human tinkering with conventional cold virus genetics could have bred this one. But I still doubt it.

AIDS? There's no way any scientist could have made that. The very essence of the virus is made of RNA, a component of DNA. We're still trying to map out the human genome. The AIDS virus is a very sophisticated hack of that human genome.

If someone did have the staggering level of genius to have invented the AIDS virus, he have to be awarded the Nobel Prize for the sophistication of it and then summarily executed for committing the largest mass human manslaughter in world history.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 05-02-2003, 08:35 PM:

Since I live in the city that in north america has been the hardest hit I can say it is very scary since the virus has not been positively identified only two of the actual deaths tested positive for what was believed to be the culprit virus
It also appears that it has a longer period that the infection can return over and there appears to be no gained imunitity to it from surviving it once