SARS Thru the Mail??

[eno801]

i just ordered a hobby part from hong kong. my friend says i should cancel the order ,because of the SARS threat, I think he's full of crap. should i be worried? is my package a likely source of transmission?

[China Guy]

OMG, I can't believe I'm reading this. However, as a GQ, SARS is a form of cold virus, it can perhaps "live" for up to 24 hours. So, yep, a very likely source of transmission if you assume your postman has SARS, sneezes on you letter, you grab the letter with bare hands, get the virus on your hands, and then rub your eyes vigorously.

Just curious, what do they still make in HK that would be sent to the US?

[Space Vampire]

He is full of crap. I can't believe this isn't the first time I've seen this question.

[green_bladder]

Originally posted by eno801
i just ordered a hobby part from hong kong. my friend says i should cancel the order ,because of the SARS threat, I think he's full of crap. should i be worried? is my package a likely source of transmission?

Yep, he's full of crap and you shouldn't be worried. And perhaps this article from the WHO website will calm your nerves a bit.

[eno801]

i knew it the sucker owes me lunch. by the way its for an rc car.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=2565

[green_bladder]

Whoops, in order to read that article you'd probably need this link:

http://www.who.int/csr/sars/goods2003_04_10/en/

[Crowbar of Irony +3]

Short answer: The SARS virus is suspected to have a lifespan of 3 hours outside the body. If you are really worried, just don't touch the package for 3 hours (or 3 days) when it arrive...

[Strewth]

I recieved some mail from Toronto. The postal people here in Australia removed it from the envelope & re-sealed it with their sticky tape.
It's a load of crap with the media hyping the SARS. Of course, we all should be concerned, but there are other diseases out there in the big wide world like AIDS, Cholera, TB etc which not even a vaccine or cure has been found yet.

[Mangetout]

Glad to hear this; the miniature CMOS camera for my birdbox project came in from HK today.

[green_bladder]

Originally posted by LostCause
Short answer: The SARS virus is suspected to have a lifespan of 3 hours outside the body. If you are really worried, just don't touch the package for 3 hours (or 3 days) when it arrive...

Actually, I read yesterday that they revised that figure in HK to something like 20 hours. I'll post up the cite if anyone's interested.