Posted 4:52 AM by Blah blah

SARS is Airborne

To Diana and Mat, I don't know what you guys think the word "airborne" means, but I mean that "SARS can travel through the air." If that's true, the virus IS AIRBORNE.
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SARS could be 'airborne' (AFP): "A deadly pneumonia outbreak that has killed at least 62 people and infected some 1,700 more could be spread through the air, making it far more contagious than previously thought, a senior US health official told CNN today.

'Under certain circumstances, at least, it may be airborne,' said Dr Julie Gerberding, director of the Centres for Disease Control in the US.

Health officials previously said that they believed Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was transmitted by coming into contact with 'droplets' from a sneezing or coughing patient.

'We are seeing large outbreaks, for example in an apartment complex in Hong Kong, where airborne transmission certainly is a possibility,' Gerberding said."
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I don't know what else you mean by "airborne."

Mat, you refer to this article in the Straits Times. Singapore's Prime Minister Goh says: "But it is not as frightening as it seems, because we know now that the disease is transmitted through close contact, through droplets at close proximity. If you touch certain surfaces which are virus-infected, you may also contract the viral infection if you rub your nose or your eyes after that. It's not airborne as we know now. If it was, more people would have come down with the infection."

Goh is misleading. He shouldn't have said "it's not airborne." Look at the purpose of his speech. He's trying to keep the population calm, to encourage people to keep living their lives. In doing so, he contradicts what doctors, health agencies, and articles have been saying for weeks.

Think of it this way. SARS is transmitted, it seems, very much like a flu or cold. If someone coughs or sneezes when he has the flu or a cold, and you touch it, or touch a doorknob that he touched, and rub your eyes, don't you also get sick? If he coughs or sneezes and you breathe next to him, don't you have a chance of catching his disease? He also coughs or sneezes "droplets."

Droplets. Ok, so at first the virus is liquid, or a spray, when it comes out of a sick person. But these drops still may travel through the air, like mist, no? They still may evaporate and be carried away by a breeze, no?

The point is the flu virus droplets eventually go into the air, and someone may breathe them in. AIRBORNE. We all agree that flu is airborne, right? We may catch it through the air, NOT ONLY by physical touch. We may catch it both ways!

Now look at the FAQ from the Centers for Disease Control:

"How is SARS spread?

The principal way SARS appears to be spread is through droplet transmission; namely, when someone sick with SARS coughs or sneezes droplets into the air and someone else breathes them in. It is possible that SARS can be transmitted more broadly through the air or from objects that have become contaminated."

Time also prints a FAQ on SARS.