editorial: SARS knocks on state's door
The Denver post Article Published: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 - 12:00:00 AM MST
It's some of the most troubling news Colorado has received in a long time: Three possible cases of a life-threatening disease that is sweeping the globe have apparently turned up in metro Denver.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has been labeled a world health emergency and prompted warnings against unnecessary travel to parts of China or Vietnam. The three Colorado nurses with suspected SARS all had recently returned from China.
The rapidity and lethality with which SARS is spreading has alarmed medical professionals. There's no cause for public panic, but there is reason to be concerned and alert.
SARS is the first major new infection that can spread directly from person to person to appear in decades. Although SARS may be related to a well-known cold virus, experts still worry that people around the globe may have little or no immunity to it.
Although SARS was identified in Vietnam, it actually cropped up a little more than a month ago in China. In just a few weeks, SARS jetted into an astounding 13 nations, striking both developing and industrialized countries. Unlike some killer diseases, such as malaria, SARS strikes regardless of climate or region. There was no reason for SARS not to come to Colorado.
On Friday, there were 1,550 cases and 54 deaths worldwide. By Monday, there were 1,622 cases and 58 deaths. Officially, the United States reported 69 suspected cases as of Sunday, but that figure doesn't include Colorado's possible cases. At this writing, no Americans have died of SARS.
Ironically, technology helps SARS spread faster than it could have in an earlier era: New cases have been appearing along airline routes. That is, the disease is traveling quickly because its carriers - people - can be anywhere on the globe in less than 24 hours, taking the virus with them.
That's not unlike what happened in 1918-19, when the deadly Spanish Flu spread on trains and troop ships, eventually killing 40 million people worldwide, including 600,000 Americans.
Infectious-disease experts had feared SARS might be a new influenza - which it doesn't seem to be, thank goodness. Experts first thought it might be, though, because several lethal flu strains have erupted out of Asia in recent decades.
Unlike those viruses, which have struck almost anyone in the general public, SARS has been most devastating to doctors and nurses who have cared for SARS patients. It wasn't surprising that Colorado's first suspected cases appeared among medical people.
Sadly, the global death toll includes Dr. Carlo Urbani, the World Health Organization expert who identified SARS and first flagged it as a major world health threat. Without his extraordinary work, SARS would be an even worse menace. Urbani's death is a real loss to humanity because of his dedication and remarkable insight.
SARS seems to be a natural phenomenon. But if an accidental outbreak of a new disease can cause such suffering and confusion, think what might happen if terrorists deliberately spread an unknown, deadly virus or bacteria.
As awful as SARS is, it may give medical professionals a real-life test for containing any future epidemics of deadly contagions - including any let loose by terrorists intent on creating public panic.