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Dublin
SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Wed April 23, 2003 12:39 PM UTC
Just a word of caution to anyone visiting Dublin and intending to stay in a hostel here ...

A Chinese woman who admiited herself to St Vincents hospital last Friday with suspected SARS was sent "home" with a facemask - home being a hostel in Dublin - and was not tested again until Monday when five striking public health doctors came off the picket to see her (and her sister). As a result the gardai (police) have apparently closed the hostel down and are questioning the women with regard to their movements in the intervening three days. In the best tradition of free speech Irish-style of course the hostel in question is not being named and the bus routes she used are therefore a matter of conjecture to the rest of us here, as are any other public amenities.

If you're booked into a hostel here in the near future you might want to ring them and see if they are out of quarantine yet! For what it's worth, the lady in question is apparently getting better.

What a country! And they criticise the Chinese for not coming clean ...
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Dublin
Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Wed April 23, 2003 12:45 PM UTC
Marc,
It's the same here in Atlanta! There are two people in the area who have confrimed cases of SARS, but they won't release the names or what hospitals they have been in. I think the public has a right to know, and needs to know, so we can protect ourselves!
Fran

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Dublin
Re: Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Wed April 23, 2003 12:51 PM UTC
I'm not an alarmist when it comes to issues like SARS, but I like to think that most people will use their common sense IF those in authority at least give them the wherewithal to do so. By not naming the hostel they're effectively tarring them all with the same brush of suspicion (a commercial faux pas of an extraordinary magnitude in a city that depends to a large extent on tourism), and by not saying what amenities we may have shared with the ladies in question they are making a mockery of their own instruction for us to take this threat to our health seriously.

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Dublin
Re: Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Wed April 23, 2003 01:07 PM UTC
At times like these, you need a Dr C Everet Koop as surgeon general. He didn't give a hang about political convention. His only interest was public health when he held that post in the US.

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Dublin
Re: Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Wed April 23, 2003 01:16 PM UTC
Unconfirmed report… The area is Dun Laoghaire.

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Dublin
Re: Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Wed April 23, 2003 01:19 PM UTC
The guy "in charge" here is a minister for health called Michael Martin. We have girls dying while giving birth in ambulances as he's closed down the local maternity hospitals. We have drugs related deaths and illnesses to rival the worst neglected ghettoes in the western world because of his cutbacks in the relevant health programmes. We have children suffering from malnutrition who's only access to medical aid is through a local GP their parents can't afford. We have waiting lists for neurosurgery that takes most patients into the next century. And what's Martin engaged in? Drafting a law to ban smoking in pubs.

What's your guy's name again? Does he want a job in Ireland?

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Dublin
Re: Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Wed April 23, 2003 01:20 PM UTC
Any truth in that you reckon IF?

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Re: Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Wed April 23, 2003 01:31 PM UTC
I honestly don't know the current SG. Must be playing nice and quiet. Dr Koop was the SG under Reagan. Caused quite a ruckus when he openly advocated condom use when AIDS first hit the US. He said if you are going to engage in risky behavior, minimize the risk. Earned the name Dr Kook from the ultra conservatives.

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Dublin
Re: Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Wed April 23, 2003 04:29 PM UTC
I saw an interview with him(Frontline?). He said the 'anti abortion crowd has shot their bolt until they recognize the need for birth control. the best remedy for stopping abortion is prevent unwanted pregnancies'. I don't think he changed his views so much as recognized that the job of SG is all about the health of the citizenry and back burnered is advocacy. Just struck me as what the founding fathers had in mind leading a nation.

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Dublin
Re: Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Wed April 23, 2003 04:42 PM UTC
Relax guys - false alarm - It was the Marine Hostel in DL by the way. Do ye know that more people died of Flu in Europe last week than died in the whole world of SARS ? Calm please.

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Re: Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Thu April 24, 2003 03:36 AM UTC
It is always the easiest way to blame others. First of all, one do not even know when they get SARS till the symptoms show up. Most recently, there's a person who shows the symptoms after 3 weeks of travelling to China.
From what I see of not revealing the hostel and hospital name is as bad as China not revealing the cases of SARS to the world last year.

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Dublin
Re: Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Thu April 24, 2003 07:49 AM UTC
Good point Donalh - my own point I hope was more to do with the stupidity of the authorities here given our dependence on tourism.

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Dublin
Re: Re: SARS - what SARS?
Posted: Thu April 24, 2003 04:34 PM UTC
"And what's Martin engaged in? Drafting a law to ban smoking in pubs."

Can I nominate this entire post "post of the day"? I agree with you wholeheartedly. The priorities right now are sooo wrong. It would actually be funny if it wasn't that serious.

I don't want to go into much detail here, but through some family issues at the moment I am very well aware of how the health sytem here works ... or should I say "doesn't work". It's a complete scandal.

Holger

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