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Xiao Jie-Shen
GETTINGTO KNOWTHE
CRISIS OFTHE
SEVERE
ATYPICAL
RESPIRATORY
SYNDROME
Severe
Atypical
Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS) results
in "atypical
pneumonia". Normally
pneumonia
results
from
infection caused by micro-
organisms
like pneumococcal bacteria
producing lobar infection
-
generalized
infection
of
lobe(s)
of the
lungs.
However,
atypical
pneumonia
is
interstitial. On X-ray examination,
the
lungs have patchy or streaky opacities
and the patient
has
fever, headache,
cough, joint pain, weakness, shortness
of breath, etc. Severe cases requires
a
respirator available
in
intensive-care
units. Patients may
die
from
respiratory
failure
because
of
an
auto-immune
reaction that destroys
the
lung
tissue
if
not
treated early
enough.
ln China, the
mircro-organism chlamydia had once
been incriminated but other countries
found
the
major
primary
infective
source
to
be
a
new
strain of
coronavirus.
Nevertheless,
too little
is known about
all these sources of infection and much
work remains to
be
done. lt takes
2-4
weeks for
recovery. At
from the end of
February, the number of patients are
in
the
thousands
in
China and
Hong
Kong.
A
lot of
experience
is
accumulating,
e.
9., a
very high
risk
ol
infection amongst
medical and nursing
staff
despite
adequate protective
harness and
very
strict protection against droplet infec-
tion
is
called for; the panic reaction of
the people must
be
addressed
by ap-
propriate education on the
effective
treatments (Ribovirin and
steroids);
intense education
of
preventing
infec-
tion (masks, avoid crowded places and
touching public objects, hand washing/
cleaning, adequate
air
circulation, etc.).
*
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