tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41429292009-02-21T01:21:43.152-05:00CFIDS and AIDSInvestigative reporting and commentary on the epidemic of CFIDS/AIDS by Charles Ortleb, the author of "The Closing Argument," a courtroom novella about CFIDS/AIDS. The novella will soon receive a major theatrical production.
Contact us at: rubiconmedia @yahoo.comrubiconnoreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1069268074740608482003-11-19T13:54:00.000-05:002003-11-19T13:57:50.670-05:00FIRST CASE OF SARS IN A NEW SARS
SEASON MAY HAVE BEEN SEEN IN TAIWAN
Patient recently returned from China
The China Post today reported the first case of SARS in the new Flu season.
Accoding to the report, "A Kaohsiung hospital yesterday reported this winter's first SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) case in Taiwan. Doctors at the Union Hospital said they diagnosed a resident of the rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1068599110278266052003-11-11T20:05:00.000-05:002003-11-11T20:06:33.793-05:00AS WE APPROACH THE NEW SARS SEASON,
WE ARE REPRINTING AN OPEN LETTER THAT
WAS PUBLISHED IN THIS SPACE IN JUNE
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE DOCTORS AND NURSES IN TORONTO
Dear Doctors and Nurses of Toronto,
You have just been through Hell.
I've been following your story since the begining of the SARS epidemic.
Some of you have seen friends and colleagues suffer. Some of you have seen patients rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1067133268802450032003-10-25T21:54:00.000-04:002003-10-25T22:08:45.606-04:00THE NEW YORK TIMES GETS YET ANOTHER
EPIDEMIC WRONG
The New York Times, which to this day still has not reported the true story about AIDS, CFIDS and HHV-6, now has shifted its monumental journalistic incompetence to the subject of SARS. An editorial in the Sunday paper gets it exactly wrong: "Health authorities are preparing for the possible return of the SARS virus this fall, but with any luck rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1066867257932843242003-10-22T20:00:00.000-04:002003-10-22T20:00:58.100-04:00NEW RESEARCH BOLSTERS CLAIMS THAT HHV-6
PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN AIDS
Is HHV-6 the real AIDS virus?
New research published in Blood on October 15 by a team of researchers that includes famous HHV-6 researcher Paolo Lusso, suggests that HHV-6 can play a major role in suppressing the immune system.
The abstract of the research follows:
"Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is a potentially rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1066444262991807692003-10-17T22:31:00.000-04:002003-10-17T22:34:13.320-04:00WILD BOARS ARE BACK ON THE
SARS SUSPECT LIST
Has it spread to China's domestic pigs?
According to a report by Andy Ho in today's Straits Times, "A new study by Chinese researchers reported this week by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that many people may have had Sars without showing symptoms. The study of 508 animal traders in Guangdong showed that more than half ofrubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1065657257314547012003-10-08T19:54:00.000-04:002003-10-08T19:55:42.536-04:00NEW STUDY FAILS TO RULE PIGS OUT
AS SOURCE OF SARS
The Sars coronavirus is described as a "Frankenstein type"
virus that is partially related to a coronavirus
that infects pigs and other animals.
According to an article by Jenni Laidman in the Toledo Blade, "The SARS virus shows signs of Frankenstein-like construction, with one important gene cobbled together from two other viruses, a study by rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1064449006403389912003-09-24T20:16:00.000-04:002003-09-24T20:34:25.266-04:00NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT THE SARS CORONAVIRUS
IS MORE WIDESPREAD AND OLDER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT
Are pigs the key to understanding the complications of SARS?
According to a report from South Africa's News24, "Recent studies in China indicate the pneumonia-like Sars virus might have existed in humans for some time, as scientists testing blood samples collected prior to the recent outbreaks rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1062894305299192942003-09-06T20:25:00.000-04:002003-09-06T20:57:03.666-04:00IT LOOKS LIKE SARS II IS COMING SOON
AND WILL BE CATASTROPHIC
Over the last few days there have been somber reports that suggest that SARS is percolating in two or more species of animals out there. They come on the heels of what was clearly an outbreak of SARS in British Columbia that was swept under the rug. The British Columbia outbreak showed that mild forms of SARS exist and that the virus rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1061742952047954992003-08-24T12:35:00.000-04:002003-08-24T13:01:56.883-04:00THE SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS HAS
BEEN FOUND IN A WIDE RANGE
OF ANIMALS IN CHINA
But are pigs the most threatening reservoir?
According to Straits Times, a recent investigation into the presence of SARS-associated coronavirus has found the virus in many different animals. It is unclear which animals are transmitting the virus to people. According to the report, "A Sars-like virus has been rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1061418085768106502003-08-20T18:21:00.000-04:002003-08-20T18:23:41.680-04:00SARS SPREADING IN CANADA AGAIN
AS AUTHORITIES TRY TO EXPLAIN IT AWAY
SARS now seems to come with a wide range of symptoms, making tracking it almost impossible
According to newscientist.com, an outbreak of pneumonia, which tests so far indicate may be caused by the SARS virus, appears to be spreading in British Columbia, Canada. The virus had already infected over 150 people and killed six at rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1061135632972662822003-08-17T11:53:00.000-04:002003-08-17T12:18:42.603-04:00IS THE INSIDIOUS FUTURE OF SARS
MANIFESTING ITSELF NOW IN A
CANADIAN NURSING HOME?
And, as WHO heads for a pig farm in China, it appears that rats may also be a vector
Great confusion now surrounds the outbreak of SARS or a SARS-like disease in a nursing home in a suburb of Vancouver in British Columbia. Apparently, in July, a number of residents of a nursing home came down with respiratory rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1060904832486563482003-08-14T19:47:00.000-04:002003-08-14T19:56:21.483-04:00IN A PUZZLING MOVE, CHINA WILL ALLOW
FARMS TO RAISE ANIMALS THAT MAY CARRY
THE SARS CORONAVIRUS
The World Health Organization is very concerned
The Straits Times today reported that China would no longer prohibit the raising of the very animals that may be resnsible for SARS.
According to the report, "China has allowed farms to resume selling masked palm civets, a species that may have been therubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1060483096516534452003-08-09T22:38:00.000-04:002003-08-09T23:17:24.120-04:00HARVARD'S HENRY NIMAN SEES A SARS
APOCALYPSE COMING AS SOON AS
THE WEATHER GETS COLDER
The mutating virus seems to be spreading in the general population.
While we have mainly been concerned about the probable spread of the SARS-associated coronavirus in the pig population of China, Henry Niman, a Harvard Medical School scientist, has a more pressing concern. He thinks that the Sars-associated rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1060273867732019422003-08-07T12:31:00.000-04:002003-08-09T22:51:30.830-04:00AND IF SARS BREAKS OUT IN THE
USA IN THE AUTUMN . . .
"If SARS becomes established here the way it did in Toronto, all hell is going to break loose," warns Arthur Kellermann, chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Emory University in Atlanta. "We're struggling to meet tonight's demand for 911 calls, much less a major respiratory disease."
--From The Wall Street Journalrubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1060128252791959082003-08-05T20:04:00.000-04:002003-08-05T20:26:44.023-04:00ARE PIGS A SARS RESERVOIR IN CHINA?
Maybe someone should interview
Zhong Nanshan
Back on April 6, South Africa's News24.com reported that "Zhong Nanshan, touted as China's first health expert to identify the new disease, said Guangdong province's Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently completed a study of 30 animal types and found the virus in snakes, wild pigs, monkeys and bats."
rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1058649173427844392003-07-19T17:12:00.000-04:002003-07-19T17:21:03.943-04:00SARS: THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO
In something like 100 days, SARS could break out in a devastating manner because the animal reservoir for the virus has still not been determined and that reservoir might not be as limited and exotic as some people think. If the finding that suggests that wild pigs are SARS carriers is accurate, and if the death of some domestic pigs in China's Guangdong Province wasrubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1058034118355417412003-07-12T14:21:00.000-04:002003-07-12T14:23:39.623-04:00AUSTRALIAN RESEARCHER IS SEARCHING
FOR SARS RESERVOIRS IN CHINA.
What follows is a media release from CSIRO, a scientific organization in Australia.
A senior CSIRO veterinarian begins a three-week visit to China on Friday to help coordinate an international investigation into the roles animals might play in spreading the deadly SARS virus.
One of CSIRO Livestock Industries' leading viral rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1057454831598843192003-07-05T21:27:00.000-04:002003-07-09T19:41:24.103-04:00THE NEXT SARS EPIDEMIC
Maybe you ain't seen nothing yet
By Charles Ortleb
While the media is celebrating what seems to be the disappearance of SARS from the face of the earth, there is a dark undercurrent to some of the news stories and there are some rather unpleasant facts that still have not been faced head-on.
There is still the matter of the animal reservoir. Nobody is giving a straight rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1056678636363109272003-06-26T21:50:00.000-04:002003-11-11T20:04:23.780-05:00AN OPEN LETTER TO THE DOCTORS AND NURSES IN TORONTO
Dear Doctors and Nurses of Toronto,
You have just been through Hell.
I've been following your story since the begining of the SARS epidemic.
Some of you have seen friends and colleagues suffer. Some of you have seen patients die. Some of you have been had the illness and recovered. Some of you have gotten the illness and feel like you rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-958821802003-06-20T23:03:00.000-04:002003-06-21T11:39:06.000-04:00ONCE AGAIN, THE TIMES SKIRTS
THE PIG QUESTION
By Charles Ortleb
In today's New York Times, Lawrence Altman once again carefully avoids talking about pigs, the most obvious probable source of the SARS-associated coronavirus. With Keith Bradsheer, the former CDC employee reports that "Another concern is that researchers in Hong Kong and Guangdong say they have found viruses nearly identical to rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-958364742003-06-19T14:52:00.000-04:002003-06-26T21:02:55.500-04:00HOW MANY PIGS IN CHINA AND
CANADA ARE CARRIERS OF THE
SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS?
Nobody seems to want to talk about pigs and SARS. And what about the dead pigs in China's Guangdong Province?
While the World Health Organization continues to warn that as long as there are animal reservoirs for the SARS-associated coronavirus (SAC), SARS will still be a problem. It's amazing that the discovery rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-954111962003-06-07T14:43:00.000-04:002003-06-07T21:33:31.000-04:00IT'S OFFICIAL: THE TIMES ACKNOWLEDGES
THAT THE SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS
HAS BEEN FOUND IN WILD PIGS
The media is taking its time on the SARS-in-pigs story. We're shocked, shocked! Knowing how the pork industry and its research pimps operate, we're lucky that there is any story at all.
But finally in the New York Times, Lawrence Altman (MD and president of the CDC fan club) broke the porcine rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-953129122003-06-04T23:13:00.000-04:002003-06-07T14:44:44.000-04:00WILD PIGS IN CHINA TEST POSITIVE FOR
THE SARS CORONAVIRUS
Most of the media seems to be ignoring an
important new fact about SARS
According to the South Africa's News24.com, wild pigs in China have tested positive for the SARS-associated coronavirus, which should raise serious questions about the possibility of SARS entering the food supply in China, Canada, and other places where there are rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-951582602003-06-01T13:37:00.000-04:002003-06-01T14:28:40.000-04:00WOULD CHINA COVER UP A
SARS EPIDEMIC IN PIGS?
If PRRS is any indication, the unfortunate
answer is yes.
China seems to be circling the wagons again. Recent reports indicate that it's back to politics as usual regarding SARS, and most information coming out about the epidemic is less than trustworthy. Not that America is necessarily telling the truth about it's own SARS epidemic. (See the Vallejorubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-947154362003-05-21T22:16:00.000-04:002003-05-21T22:52:09.000-04:00THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
IS STILL NOT RULING OUT PIGS
AS THE SOURCE OF SARS
By Charles Ortleb
Despite a recent announcement that scientists in Canada had shown that chickens and pigs could not become infected, a virologist with the World Health Organization said today that the organization had still not ruled out chickens and pigs as a possible source of SARS. According to an Australian rubiconnoreply@blogger.com