SARS question

[insider]

When they discuss the number of people who died from SARS I don't see anything which relates to the age and sex of the dead. Has anyone seen anything that would explain if this illness is killing people with immune deficencies, the elderly, and infants? Or, is this illness just killing people randomly according to their ability to fight it off? Is it true that if the war was not going on right now that SARS would be the top news story around the world?

[Duckster]

Cases of SARS continue to be reported primarily among people who have had direct close contact with an infected person, such as those sharing a household with a SARS patient and health care workers who did not use infection control procedures while caring for a SARS patient. In the United States, there is no indication of community transmission at this time. CDC continues to monitor this situation very closely. Source: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/faq.htm

Lots of good info at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/

[Nametag]

Insider is asking about mortality, Ducks. http://www.cambridge-reporter.com/topstory_03040263938.html Worldwide, the death toll has reached 59 people. Experts place the SARS mortality rate at five per cent of those infected, with the very young and the elderly most at risk.

[Dr_Paprika]

I can talk about the Ontario experience. In general, the people doing badly are elderly or immunosuppressed (e.g. one of the cases is a liver transplant). Young, healthy people tend to do pretty well. That said, a few of deaths involve healthy children and healthy adults.

[Yeah]

According to Health Canada SARS webpage [accessed 3 Apr 2003] at <http://www.sars.gc.ca.>: There have been 62 probable cases of SARS reported in Canada with 6 deaths and "All 6 deaths reported to date have been associated with individuals with underlying illness and all but one occurred in elderly patients."

[Dr_Paprika]

While this is true, I am also talking about patients who are intubated, and "doing badly" according to the hospital Chiefs of Staff (with whom we teleconference daily).