# I have a cold - and I keep hearing about SARS **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 28, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671 "2003-03-28T01:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/21 "2003-03-29T03:56:56Z")
Oh, heavens, no, norinew, you’re not the only dweeb here. We got **lots** of dweebs here (and most of have read The Stand). 😃 Seriously, I’m not too worried about SARS for myself (it’s just my usual spring sinus cold), but the timing stinks. I can just imagine going to the emergency room with my awful sounding cold and cough - I suspect I’d be quarantined in about 30 seconds just to be on the safe side. What bug have you got in your eye, **CRorex**? When I was a medical lab tech, I got to do swabs on myself all the time. I wasn’t as brave as the other lab techs that would take their own blood samples - swabs were my limit. Hey, you had to do something to kill time on those long, 12 hour night shifts. ---
**Author:** ![kali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e57/32.png) [@kali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kali)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/22 "2003-03-29T04:34:23Z")
“I think it comes on fairly quickly. If you’re not at death’s doorstep by tonight, you probably don’t have the killer bug.” Sorry … I don’t know how to use the “quoting” function. Is the above true? I’ve wondered this myself, since I am in China, in a SARS area and have had a nasty head cold for about 5 days. It seems like the typical run of the mill kind of cold … drippy nose, tired, stuffed up, light fever at night … and my colds tend to move into my chest after they work their way through the head. Can anyone tell me if it’s true that the SARS progresses very rapidly to a cough and respiratory infection? Just knowing it’s not that would give me some peace of mind. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/23 "2003-03-29T04:36:27Z")
I’m been fighting the starts-with-bad-sore-throat-and-moves-into-the-sinuses cold for a week and a half. At this point, I’m just have some post-nasal that’s more annoying then anything else. Good luck, fellow sickies! ---
**Author:** ![summerbreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@summerbreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerbreeze)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/24 "2003-03-29T22:42:35Z")
I certainly hope all of you are feeling much better very soon, and that all you have are colds and normal respiratory infections. My small city’s population will double next week as 70,000 people arrive from all over the world for a semi-annual gathering. The newspaper says our hospitals are on alert. It also says SARS is spread by “close contact,” which it describes as hand-shaking, back-slapping, etc. My business will see a lot of these international visitors, many of them from Asia. I can’t wear a surgical mask at work. Does anyone know how people can protect themselves? Or does SARS make people so sick so fast that those who have it probably won’t be able to travel? ---
**Author:** ![Magnetic\_Flux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@Magnetic\_Flux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magnetic_Flux)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/25 "2003-03-29T22:58:36Z")
[www.pulmonologychannel.com](http://www.pulmonologychannel.com) That’s a great site. Check it out! ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/26 "2003-03-29T23:11:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by summerbreeze \* > \*\*I certainly hope all of you are feeling much better very soon, and that all you have are colds and normal respiratory infections. > > My small city’s population will double next week as 70,000 people arrive from all over the world for a semi-annual gathering. The newspaper says our hospitals are on alert. It also says SARS is spread by “close contact,” which it describes as hand-shaking, back-slapping, etc. > > My business will see a lot of these international visitors, many of them from Asia. I can’t wear a surgical mask at work. Does anyone know how people can protect themselves? Or does SARS make people so sick so fast that those who have it probably won’t be able to travel? \*\* “Does anyone know how people can protect themselves?” I think I’d call in sick…☹ ---
**Author:** ![summerbreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@summerbreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerbreeze)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/27 "2003-03-29T23:51:15Z")
Well, **t-keela** , we are on the same page except this thing lasts 10 days & I can’t afford to be “sick” that long. I understand SARS isn’t airborne, so don’t worry about talking to our visitors, even those whose “personal space” is much smaller than mine. Hard to avoid shaking hands, even our Asian guests do that, tho they also bow. Lots of exchange of business cards. Some Europeans do the hand-kissing thing (I’m a woman). Do y’all (I’m a southern woman) think lots of hand-washing will suffice? I’m serious here, people. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/28 "2003-03-30T00:19:13Z")
Get some of that stuff I see folks with these days…hand sanitizer? Maybe some of those alcohol soaked towlettes in your pocket. Gloves probably wouldn’t be appropriate, I don’t know about the weather there. Yeah I agree, 10 days is more like a leave of absence. You’re not due for a vacation are you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/29 "2003-03-30T00:27:13Z")
BTW my daughter has MuscularDystrophy and a real weak immune system. She uses this stuff to help stay well. It’s been a pain this winter…everyone has this damned\???whatever it is. She’s been borderline sick…me, I’m strong as a damned mule and haven’t been sick in…hmmm I don’t know, maybe since I was a kid. Really sick, not hurt or hungover (ha-ha) Say 30 years now. I almost had the flu once…started feeling run down after playing nurse to a half dozen family members all week. Went down and got a big dose of penicillin and some B vitamins, back on my feet in a couple of hours. Good luck to you. ---
**Author:** ![summerbreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@summerbreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerbreeze)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/30 "2003-03-30T03:19:41Z")
**t-keela** , your helpful suggestions have sparked an idea: I’ll go to work, but act sick: hack, hack, clutch a Kleenex, extra blush so I look feverish. Maybe everyone will stay away from _me._ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/31 "2003-03-30T04:07:46Z")
Had cold for 6 days now. Worst day yet today. Head stuffed up, head pounding, eyes watering, throat hurting, chest congested, coughing until I feel like puking, no appetite, joints hurting, can’t sleep, can’t think, can’t talk, can’t sing, can’t make intellgielble pposts. Get the hell out of my body, you damned phlegm. RIGHT FREAKIN’ NOW!!! ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/32 "2003-03-30T04:13:58Z")
A half gallon of ice cold Gold Cuervo and some limes make for a pretty good cure all. You might not actually get well, but by the time you’re halfway through the bottle you won’t give a shit.😃 **summerbreeze** that sounds like a plan that might work…unless all the sickos want to hang out w/ you because they figure you’ve got it anyway ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/33 "2003-03-30T04:24:36Z")
You know, **t-keela** , I’ve known people who swear by getting roaring drunk on tequila at the first signs of a cold. Their logic is that those pesky little cold germs aren’t hardy enough to stand up to the nectar of the agaves, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/34 "2003-03-30T04:33:07Z")
I don’t know 'bout that, but remember what I said…I haven’t been sick since…well now that you put it that way. That would be about right, since my teen years the last time I was actually sick was when I was a teenager and going through puberty…tonsils and all that crap. Maybe something to it. I’ve worked hard and and played even harder for many years… I’ve always had a good appetite and worked out, but I can put away the tequila better than any I know. Matter of fact, not getting biased or anything but most folks I know that do drink a lot of tequila are very rarely sick either. It’s probably not a causal relationship though…perhaps people who are able to handle large amounts of the stuff just have hardy immune systems. I dunno… ---
**Author:** ![summerbreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@summerbreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerbreeze)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/35 "2003-03-30T05:23:06Z")
Like **t-keela** , I’m never sick. (Injured is different.) But I’m sane enough to worry about deadly contagious diseases to which I’ve never been previously exposed. _However_, also like **t-keela** , I drink some. My preference is reasonably-good scotch. I’m hoping that **featherlou** is right & internal alcohol is the answer to SARS, as it is to so many other things. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/36 "2003-03-30T05:42:58Z")
Made it all the way to Bangkok now. So far so good. Some people in Singapore airport were wearing masks, not too many in Thailand. The first doctor to identify SARS (as something new, not the cause) died yesterday in a Bangkok hospital. He treated the guy in Hong Kong which set off the alarm bells. I’m using free internet so not time now to link to the story. In Bangkok they are doing a simple screen (asking about symptoms) from inbound passengers. Also handing out health cards to warn about symptoms if they show up. Apparently a sudden high fever is typically the first symptom. Normally 2-7 days after exposure, but up to 10 days. Newspaper article also mentioned 55 dead and approx 1400 cases so far. Let’s hope they nip this in the bud soon. In the Straits-Times they mentioned a new vector of another WHO physician who caught it and took a cab on the way back from Changi Airport. They’ve found and quarantined most of her contacts but not the cab driver yet. So everyone there is afraid to use cabs now. Also, apropos of nothing, the flight I took from NYC-Frankfurt-Singapore is the same flight, 2 weeks later, where they pulled the Sinaporean doctor and his family into quarantine in Frankfurt. Hope they disinfected the plane. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![slice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@slice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slice)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/37 "2003-03-30T05:44:29Z")
Thanks for the welcome, **featherlou**. 🙂 I am now in day 7 of mystery cold and share your sentiments exactly. I’m definitely sick of the whole coughing until I almost barf thing. I’m also finding that I’m forgetting simple and routine things (i.e. my email password, how to get to school, the names of people I have known for at least fifteen years). Hope everyone else is on the mend. I like the alcohol idea. ---
**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/38 "2003-03-30T12:01:18Z")
See my blog entries for the last few weeks for my take on it (link below). People staying away from Asia because of this are either whimps or haven’t checked the statistics. You’re more likely to be run over by a taxi. Here in Hong Kong, out of 7mn people, we have 450 SARS cases and 12 deaths (mainly of people with heart/liver problems - the latest being an 83 year old guy). If I’m relaxed, people in Calgary can be, too. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/39 "2003-03-30T12:11:53Z")
Hemlock, tell that to Mick and Keith. I heard the Rugby Sevens had a terrible turnout. Certainly, we had a lot of corp clients cancel. But I agree with you, the taxis are more dangerous 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671/40 "2003-03-30T15:41:20Z")
So is this SARS “recatchable” or does it help build an immunity against it. I remember my two brothers had chicken pox when we were all kids. We shared a bedroom and while they were sick, I never caught it. Same as a teen…friends got it, not me. My two kids had the pox…not me. I’ve nursed friends and family for years with all the crap that people get but for some reason…nothing. I have finally broken my resistance against poison oak/ivy after really getting exposed on a hot summer day all sweaty with no shirt on. BUT I went and got a shot of hydrcortizone and that took care of it. I’ve had two shots for P/I in ten years and that’s done it. I don’t know maybe I’m just a strange sort…I’ve got another peculiarity, I doubt any relation though. Some days I am naturally hyper-static, meaning everything seems to shock me. Watches WILL NOT work on my person, calculators, small electronics just go haywire. Jewelry will tarnish in a matter of minutes. I know it sound strange but I assure you it’s true. sorry 'bout the hijack… **featherlou** try a couple of Benadryl to dry up the sinuses and three Excedrin to feel better. That’s all that’s in my medicine cabinet w/ exception to some Cuervo in the freezer.😃 Maybe the VitC from eating all those limes? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-cold-and-i-keep-hearing-about-sars/164671.md?page=3)