X-Message-Number: 21975 Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 09:10:01 -0700 (PDT) From: Christine Gaspar <> Subject: sars, sars, sars... --0-1542212563-1055607001=:34660 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi again. I would like to continue reporting on the SARS situation in Toronto, if you as cryonet, and CSC readers are still interested in hearing about it on this forum. I enjoy sharing SARS stories, because I don't think that there is any other cryonicist in the position to provide such information to the cryonics community. ( That is uncensored, direct information, not skewed by the media or our public relations department). I think that the new reality of SARS is such that we as life extensionists can learn from it, and perhaps apply the lessons here to future biological threats. I was told last night by one of the physicians I work with that my hospital has become THE authority on SARS in North America, as no one on this continent has had so much experience as us in battling it. We have more than 30 staff members infected, we have been treating the Toronto community at large with SARS since its onset in March, and our attempts at treating such a disease is groundbreaking and important. We are developing the pilot studies on what types of treatments to use in this battle, as well as protocols for how to contain such a virulent disease within our walls. The plastic barriers and hepafilters installed in our department, as you may have seen in the photos I posted this past week, were put in place because the nursing staff I work with (me included) filled out "unsafe work conditions" forms submitted to the Ministry of Labour in Ontario. We called the Ministry of Labour to come and inspect our workplace, as we knew that the existing barriers were completely inappropriate for containing this virus, and keeping us safe. This was not initiated by our management, physicians, or the CDC. I say this because I am very proud of how proactive and vocal our nursing staff has been in dealing with this disaster, and how instrumental they (we) have been in keeping SARS from spreading further. The nursing profession has traditionally been surpressed and left out of the decision making process. In fact, as I stated before, "SARS Part Two", as it is affectionately being called, could have been completely avoided if the SARS taskforce had listened to our dire warnings that there were disturbing patterns emerging in the population we were serving, and flat out told us we were over-reacting, as they were issuing directives to all staff that it was ok to discontinue wearing N95 masks and other protective gear. I continue to present this information, because I strongly feel that we will have another outbreak if we do not remain absolutely vigilant. Every outbreak has started by one patient, that "got away". The single biggest mistake that authorities made was insisting that SARS could not be diagnosed if an epidemiological link could not be established. A person could have a fever, shortness of breath, myalgia, etc, but if they could not recognize a contact with another sars infected person, they refused to accept the possibility that that diagnosis could be made. It has become evident that the SARS virus can survive on surfaces outside of the body for days, easily infecting people with no obvious relationship. It has also been suggested that a building's ventilation system may possibly spread the virus between floors. We had an incident where two psychiatric patients became infected on our inpatient psych floor (7 west). There were also pockets of infection on 4 west (orthopedics), and 8 west, one of our SARS floors. Note the geographic location of these floors...all in the same wing of the hospital, perhaps sharing ventilation ducts. Also, I learned today that scientists in Alberta were able to isolate the virus in the air, suggesting the possibility that it may indeed be airborne, or be becoming an airborne virus. Two of our ICU nurses became infected, wearing protective gear, during the intubation of a patient...hence the introduction of the very expensive stryker suits ( the blue space suits in my photos). The two individuals I reported on from the beginning...the 31 year old physician, and the 34 year old personal support worker...who have had SARS since March, remain on ventilators in our ICU...but they are finally showing real signs of improvement. Also, SARS virus is still being shed into our patients stool...weeks after the onset of symptoms...making it very difficult to establish how long the virus remains in the human body, and how long a patient remains infectious. Initially, patients were being treated with a cocktail of broad spectrum antibiotics, steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, and ribavarin. The ribavarin turned out to be useless, and in fact causing serious complications for the patient such as anemia. That was discontinued. We are currently using interferon, which is showing promise. Also, I just learned last night that there will be a new study, starting shortly, which will assess the blood of health care workers such as myself who have been working with SARS, but have not become ill. The purpose of the study is to look for antibodies in our blood, to see if we have been exposed to the virus...and developed immunity, as well as to explore the possibility that we can serve as potential carriers of SARS, by being "sub clinical", perhaps we were infected, developed very minor symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, etc and never knew that we were potentially infectious. That's my SARS update for today...more later if you wish Christine Gaspar --0-1542212563-1055607001=:34660 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=21975