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[thread rot] I see there's the (helpfully) descriptively named Great Sandy Desert in the North of Australia. Not much of name, is it? What the Hell else would be in a desert? The Great Cheese Desert? The Great French Onion Soup Desert? [/rot]
re: SARS and the worry engendered by news reports, there's this interesting Overview of a Pending Criminal Action Regarding the SARS Outbreak in Ontario, Canada, where the public health agencies are apparently being sued for spreading "SARS hysteria".
"Additional evidence ... derives from British Columbia wherein ... Their quarantine procedures, and health communications, generally reduced the threat of SARS, and phobic behavior change ... in contrast to the defendants’ actions in Ontario.
Furthermore, the defendants neglected to apply the standard of care in public health communications, based on the respected field of science known as “risk communication,” to appropriately educate the public regarding the actual risk posed by SARS, rather than the magnified misperceived threat...
Generally disregarded by Ontario health officials was the fact that the threat posed by SARS paled by comparison to other flu-like illnesses. Tens of thousands of immune compromised persons died across North America in 2002 following flu virus infections (nearly 36,000 people in the United States alone that year)—a death toll that barely received media mention compared to Toronto’s press response following the official proclamations concerning the first few deaths from SARS in this city.
... They further failed to promote myriad self-care strategies for immune enhancement and infectious disease prevention that is responsibly and inexpensively achieved through safe and practical methods such as improved nutrition, adequate hydration, and proper rest...
All of this resulted in the public’s ill-informed and chaotic response, approaching mass hysteria, in which much untold harm has been suffered, particularly among individuals psychologically and medically predisposed to phobia induction."
I see they're advertising "SARS gas masks" online now. I'd be more worried about recycled aeroplane air than somebody coughing on me in Thailand, I think, but neither would stop me going to lie under a palm tree by the blue sea and eat lots of Thai food. Good luck olulabelle! |
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