X-Message-Number: 21528 Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2003 04:22:22 -0500 (EST) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: SARS info sources New England Journal of Medicine placed two very detailed summaries of case information (including symptoms, attempted treatments, and X-ray photos) as pdf files on its site on March 31. This is the URL from which you can obtain free downloads: http://nejm.org/earlyrelease/sars.asp These are the only technically detailed case histories I have been able to find. World Health Organization dispatches have been minimally informative (apart from their numeric tally of cases worldwide) but you can receive their Weekly Epidemiological Record via email. Send a message to with the command subscribe wer-reh in the body of the message. So far the informational content has been meager, but future dispatches may be more useful. Back issues are stored at: http://www.who.int/wer/ EMS-L is a discussion list for people in emergency medical services. Thus far, not much original material about SARS, but if the virus spreads more widely here, we can expect more informative posts. Anyone can subscribe to this list from the web site: http://listserv.unc.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=ems-l Another emergency medicine discussion list is EMED-L, which you can receive by sending a message to with this command: subscribe emed-l [yourname] ...replacing [yourname] with your actual name. This is a relatively high-volume list but it has a digest option. I don't know yet how SARS-oriented it is. Anyone outside of the medical field is a visitor who should use the discussion lists with discretion, and do not bombard participants with numerous questions. Another interesting source, stating that about one-eighth of all Hong Kong patients admitted to hospitals have been successfully discharged as of April 1st: http://www.info.gov.hk/dh/new/index.htm Here's some text from this site. Since this is a government-run service, it attempts to be reassuring. --- Daily update 1 Apr 2003 The following is jointly issued by the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority: As at 1 PM 1 Apr 2003, 5 more patients are recovered. This brought to 84 the total number of patients who have recovered from atypical pneumonia and have been discharged from public hospitals. Most of the 601 patients currently in hospital are showing positive responses to the new treatment protocol. 67 of them are receiving treatment in an intensive care unit. Meanwhile, an additional 75 patients with symptoms of atypical pneumonia were admitted to public hospitals. They include 4 healthcare workers and 52 patients from Amoy Gardens. The remaining 19 were new patients and contacts of patients with atypical pneumonia. A 83-year-old man died in United Christian Hospital, bringing to 16 the total number of deaths relating to atypical pneumonia. Most of the deaths occurred in individuals who have a history of chronic diseases, or were patients who sought treatment at a relatively late stage of infection. The cumulative figure for patients who have been admitted to public hospitals with atypical pneumonia since 12 Mar 2003 is as follows: (The numbers in bracket are those with pneumonia symptoms) Health care workers of Hospitals/Clinics and medical students 168 (168) 49 of the patients were discharged Patients, family members & visitors 517 (517) 35 of the patients were discharged Total admission 685 (685) 84 were discharged [B] Residents of Block E moved to holiday villages 1 Apr 2003 Deputy Director of Health, Dr P Y Leung, said residents of Block E at Amoy Gardens were being moved tonight (1 Apr 2003) into 2 holiday villages in Sai Kung and Lei Yue Mun. He said the residents of the block, which has seen a high incidence of atypical pneumonia, would be kept at Lady MacLehose Holiday Village and Lei Yue Mun Park Holiday Village until the end of the isolation order. Dr Leung said health officials were now investigating whether environmental factors could have contributed to the spread of the disease at Amoy Gardens. The operation was being jointly carried out by the Department of Health, the Police and Civil Aid Service. Dr Leung said the residents would be provided with daily necessities and food during their stay at the holiday villages. They would also be given regular medical checks. He said Block E was still under isolation orders and would be under Police protection to ensure residents' flats were not broken into. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=21528