Should SARS scare you? And do people with HIV have more trouble fighting this new virus? (Health).Severe acute respiratory syndrome Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Definition Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is the first emergent and highly transmissible viral disease to appear during the twenty-first century. is raging through parts of Asia and in Toronto, with about 4,400 people diagnosed with the disease and 250 deaths reported as of late April. But there have been only about 40 "probable" cases, as health officials call them, in the United States--none of which has been fatal. Health experts are optimistic that Americans will continue to largely escape the outbreak. Nevertheless, there are worries--if not yet any proof--that people with AIDS The People With AIDS (PWA) Self-Empowerment Movement was a movement of those diagnosed with AIDS and grew out of San Francisco. The PWA Self-Empowerment Movement believes that those diagnosed as having AIDS should "take charge of their own life, illness, and care, and to minimize might have more trouble than others with fighting this new virus. Luc Montagnier Luc Montagnier (born 1932 in Chabris, France) is a French virologist. In 1982 he was asked for assistance with establishing the possible underlying retroviral cause of a mysterious new syndrome, AIDS, by Dr. , head of the Paris-based World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention and a codiscoverer of the AIDS virus AIDS virus n. See HIV. , was the first to sound the alarm about HIV-SARS coinfection. "SARS ... does not kill lots of people--around 4% to 5% [of those infected]," he told reporters in Tokyo on April 21. "But if the immune system immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. is depressed by AIDS, the toll would be much higher." Underscoring Montagnier's point, Chinese AIDS officials warned in late April that the SARS death rate could rise to at least 40% in villages with large numbers of HIV-positive people It may never be fully completed or, depending on its its nature, it may be that it can never be completed. However, new and revised entries in the list are always welcome. . But health experts in the United States are cautious about expressing too much concern about coinfection. Beverly Hills AIDS doctor Gary Cohan says only people with low T-cell counts are likely to be at increased risk for developing SARS, which causes serious pneumonia-like complications. People responding well to antiretroviral medications should fare no differently than their HIV-negative peers, Cohan added. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. officials are offering the same SARS prevention tips to HIV-positive people that they recommend to the public at large, said spokeswoman Karen Hunter. Elective travel to SARS hot spots--Hong Kong and other parts of China, Singapore, and the city of Hanoi, Vietnam--should be postponed indefinitely. Visitors to Toronto should avoid settings where SARS is likely to be transmitted, such as medical centers caring for SARS patients. Also, because the recently identified SARS virus can be passed along somewhat like common cold pathogens, Hunter advised, "Wash your hands often, just like Mom told you." |
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