Phytolacca is one to consider if there is glandular involvement.

I have several friends, all Homeopaths, who continue to work at Sunnybrook, Women's College, Centennial, and St. Joseph's hospitals in Toronto.

There are 3 - 5 (three to five) confirmed cases of SARS in Toronto. Actually, in all of Canada.
These patients were all, without exception, suffering from other immunocompromising conditions and were quite advanced in age.

There is NO epidemic here in Canada. Oh, yes, news broadcasts talk and talk about more and more "suspected" or "possible" cases of SARS. But, people, its still flu season, okay? These cases are "suspected" or "possible"--never confirmed. The symptoms given for SARS at the moment are:

fever of 100 degrees F (38C)
body aches and pain
cough

Wow, talk about vague. Sounds like any old mild flu--which, believe me, always brings in plenty of people to the hospital for outpatient clinics and emergency rooms. And also kills plenty of people every single year when flu epidemics hit.

For liability reasons, hospitals are closing their doors to the public in a very vocal way. But let's not forget that for decimation of funding reasons, the hospitals in the Toronto area have been closing their doors to the public in a very quiet way for over 8 years now. Bare- bones nursing and support staff issues, 16 closed hospitals in Toronto alone, and doctors who are expected to cover hundreds of patients both chronic and emergency in one shift will leave a hospital quite liable to legal recourse if anyone should suffer anything untoward at any time--but this is especially true during a time when such a mass hysteria is being created over what appears to be a variant of the flu which may adversely effect the very weak and compromised who become exposed to it. Also, let's not forget Tony Clement's own fear: after being health minister for a party which caused several thousands to suffer--and many to die-- from E coli poisoning in Walkerton, Ontario, and after being responsible for the decimation of hospitals and health services in the province, the last thing he and his party want is yet another huge death toll as a result of their short sighted decision making. If people should actually suffer because of the lack of available care and facilities which now exist because of their crazy decisions, the hospitals would be further impoverished, and the voters would be furious with yet another list of fatalities. Yes, election time is just a few short weeks away here in Ontario!

Finding a genus epidemicus remedy would be a great deal easier...if there were actually an epidemic. What we really have is a few cases of very severe respiratory symptoms--which would probably effect the rest of the population like any other upper respiratory tract infection we deal with every flu season. So, ddx has to be between the tried and true "flu" remedies we've used in genus epidemicus--but, truly, there really is so little to go on. One differentiator: the severe respiratory symptoms are like pneumonia--so you would have to consider remedies which effect the lungs in this way as well as cause the all over aches and pains and fever.

__________________
...and deliverance has many faces<br />but grace<br />is an aquaintance of mine

Divina I'm not sure where you are getting those numbers from; apparently 6 are now dead in Canada. I have also heard that along with challanged individuals, healthy people in their prime are also being hit. I assume because they are calling it a pnemonia that symptoms would apear akin to that condition (difficulty breathing; cough -restriction of lungs, in fact they have published some findings), however the fever is simply stated as high? 38+ is not that outrageous; is it constant and low grade? now that would be somewhat more unique (this type of fever is what makes FIP quite unique, the fever doesn't break and goes on for weeks or however long the patient lives). Apparently there is no kidney involvement (I wish they would detail this); some diarrhea and rashes reported (consistant with corona).
I do find it extremely odd that we are not being given simple information that they must have ie: time line of symptoms and specific symptoms; but then again China won't even tell their own people that they have a problem and they won't allow visiter's to "infection origin".

SARS SYMPTOMS

- majority of patients identified as having SARS have been adults aged 25--70 years who were previously healthy. Few suspected cases of SARS have been reported among children aged under 15 years.

- incubation period appears to be 5-7 days, with isolated reports suggesting an incubation period of as long as 10 days.

- rapid onset of high fever (greater than 100.4), which then settles - followed by muscle aches

- chills, rigors - headache - sore throat - dry cough - shortness of breath - relapse after two to three days of getting better (chills and
rigors with high fever) - acute respiratory distress accompanying the relapse (some need to have a tube inserted in their windpipe to help
them breathe)

- chest x-ray may initially be clear, but changes start on day 3-4 (bases in
particular). Chest x-rays continue to worsen and most patients demonstrate bilateral changes with interstitial infiltrations (fluid build-up
between cells in the lungs). These infiltrations produce x-rays with a characteristic cloudy appearance.

- Patients then fall into one of 2 groups. The majority, 80 to 90 percent of patients at day
6 or 7, show improvement in signs and symptoms. A second smaller group, progress to a more severe form of SARS, many of whom develop acute respiratory distress syndrome and require mechanical ventilatory support. Though mortality associated with the more severe group is high, a
number of patients have remained on ventilator support for prolonged periods of time.
Mortality in the severe group appears to be linked to a patient's other illnesses (co-morbid factors).

- The case-fatality rate among persons with illness meeting the current WHO case definition of SARS is approximately 3.7 percent (as of 3/26/03).

- confusion - diarrhea - muscle stiffness (may be the same as aches noted above?) - malaise - loss of appetite - rash - gastrointestinal upset -
pleuritic chest pain - lightheadedness - hemoptysis (coughing up of blood) -

Early laboratory findings may include thrombocytopenia (low platelet count) - leucopenia (low white blood cell count) - as illness progresses, most develop bilateral and symmetrical pulmonary infiltrates - most have
some elevation in transaminases (AST/ALT/GGT 1- 3x upper limit of normal) - possible elevations in creatine kinase - bone pain (from the doctor in Singapore)

- elevated CRP (C-reactive protein - used to assess an acute phase reaction in inflammatory and infective processes with an elevated value
interpreted as an indication of an acute phase response or active disease.)

- Patients are lymphopenic with platelets decreasing over 3-4 days after initially being normal. APTT (activated partial thromboplastin time) is prolonged, PT (prothrombin time) tends to be normal. LFTS (liver function tests) are difficult to interpret because of various drug effects. If anything low rise (100) in ALT (alternately called SGPT. This test is used
to determine if a patient has liver damage. ALT is an enzyme involved in the metabolism of the amino acid alanine.).

- Patients invariably have an elevated CPK (creatine phosphokinase). No ECG
changes and Troponin T I (coronary artery disease marker) negative. Post mortem on an Indonesian maid (not at Prince of Wales Hospital) showed
evidence of ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) and myocarditis

- In the majority of patients, renal function has remained normal.

- The severity of illness might be highly variable, ranging from mild illness to death. Although a few close contacts of patients with SARS have developed a similar illness, the majority have remained well. Some close
contacts have reported a mild, febrile illness without respiratory signs or symptoms, suggesting the illness might not always progress to the
respiratory phase.

Statement by WHO on 3/17/03:

The disease is spread from person to person but only through close contact with a case. To date, almost all reported cases have occurred in health
workers involved in the direct care of reported cases or in close contacts, such as family members. There is no evidence to date that the disease spreads though casual contact.

Emergency testing currently being done in Frankfurt (as of 3/18/03) has so
far found NO evidence of the following:

*Legionella infection
*Virus particles
*Influenza antigen

Further testing and results of viral cultures are pending.

As of 3/26/03:

Prognostic Indicators:

Generally, patients over 40 with other illnesses are more likely to progress to the severe form of the disease.

__________________
Regards,<br /><b>Simone H</b><br /><br /><i>Aude Sapere</i><br /><br />"Never be a passive listener or learner" ~ Christian Gottfried Hahnemann

Hi Me again

My friend is working in battery manufacturing factory. He is inhaling Sulphuric Acid fumes daily. Now he has developed dry burning cough with slight difficulty in breething. What do you say about this problem. Is it SARS?

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Me

Some info for anyone interested in remedies in cases of SARS. From discussions i have had today with a highly reputed homeopath, I learned that some remedy possibilities include eup-per and viscum album. Please do consider these remedies along with getting specific symptoms from patients(always taking the case of course).

Hopefully it is not an epidemic, however it does seem to be highly contagious...whole hospital units of 500 people have become infected in epidemic patterns in Hong Kong, it is certainly not like this in Toronto - we became aware of it early and are isolating all cases immediately but we just don't know enough about the nature of this disease as of yet except that it appears to be highly contagious...i think in these cases it is better to be safe than to be sorry, esp with a disease supposedly transmitted by respiratory droplet.

One of the head doctors of the World Health Organization, a healthy man in his prime died of SARS just two days ago, after working in SARS research. I do hope it does not become epidemic in nature however I think in affected areas, we would be best advised to be prepared for anything in the chance it should not be well isolated.
It never hurts to have some remedy ideas in mind just in case, plus it is a good learning experience for everyone.

Simone - thank you so much for your post - it is extremely helpful, if anyone else has heard of similar SARS information i would very much appreciate your input
Best wishes,

[ 03. April 2003, 05:51: Message edited by: toronto ]

Informative links

http://www.paho.org/English/HCP/HCT/EER/sars.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5212a5.htm

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Hafeez
Forum Pk

Krista, I am getting my information directly from staff in the hospitals. It is supported by what I hear in the news, which talks very little about "confirmed" cases...just "suspected" cases, and talks exclusively about self-imposed closings of facilities as opposed to legislated ones. Again, those "closings" are taking place for legal reasons--hospitals are afraid of litigation and liability. They will be held responsible if people die because of any disease: in the case of SARS, there is an hysteria about, which only sparks litigiousness. They are not capable of treating large numbers of people scared about being sick, and they are not capable of fending off liability suits. So they opt to play it safe and shut down.

In Canada, there have been 6 deaths attributed to SARS. All of the dead were aged and infirm before contracting the disease. It is always disputed that they suffered from SARS because death by pneumonia in cases such as these is so common.

All the quarantines have been self-imposed, not legislated. Those in hospitals with a suspected breakout are required to wash their hands and wear a mask: they can come and go from work. Those who were exposed to confirmed cases are asked to quarantine themselves. Again, it is a voluntary quarantine. One woman I know is at home, wearing a mask, but her family comes and goes as they please and are not required to take any precautions. No one's sick yet at her house, and the 10 days are almost up.

Those of us outside of hospitals are required to...do nothing different. Take the subway, go to the ball games and concerts, go to the malls, go to work, etc. etc. etc. Oh: stay home if you feel flu-ish. But that applies all the time, not just now. It especially applies during flu epidemics. Which I must re-state, kills many, many, many, more people every year, from all age groups, from all walks of life, in all states of health at onset.

The disease can by passed via droplet infection. That means someone who has SARS has to cough on you, when you are in a state of deficient or compromised health and susceptible to the disease.

I heard of one more dead this morning: as of late in the afternoon, the death is still "suspected" and not confirmed to be from the SARS disease. The woman was in hospital for treatment of some type of disease, and supposedly caught the SARS while in hospital, suffering from the other ailment. She was 67.

__________________
...and deliverance has many faces<br />but grace<br />is an aquaintance of mine

Hi Divina, you are in the thick of it and most certainly know more than I do. I do however think (based on global news reports etc) that this isn't just the flu. Last night I her a TO Dr. talking about the fact that it seems once the patients get to the "pnemonia" stage, nothing helps in that treatment. I have no doubt the the very young, old and immunosupressed will be the greatest targets, but apparently to be healthy and in the prime of life are no guarentees either. Don't get me wrong, I am anything but paranoid about it; like I said it has interesting corralations to a cat disease that has frustrated me for many years (I'm hoping inadvertendly it may glean some knowledge about it).

I have permission to cross post this from Lyghtforce.

* * * * * * * * *
Dear All,

Here's an interesting personal case description from a doctor on:
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/thesta...045&intcatid=1

The Standard 03/Apr/2003
Dicing with death
by Staff reporter

Medical workers were among the first to feel the full impact of the viral pneumonia outbreak, with some succumbing to the killer virus.

Now recovered, they plan to take a place on the frontline in an attempt to stop it from spreading.

One such person is Henry Chan, aged 34, an associate professor at the Chinese University's Department of Medicine and Therapeutics. This is how he saw those dark days in which his world all but collapsed.

March 7 -- I guided a group of third-year medical students through Unit 8A of the Prince of Wales Hospital. A patient suspected of contracting atypical pneumonia was receiving nebulizer treatment in the ward. We stayed for two hours.

_March 10 -- I felt unwell. I thought it was influenza. A colleague said several other medical workers at Unit 8A had high fever and flu symptoms. My intuition told me that something had gone wrong. In order not to infect my wife and 17-month daughter, I slept in the study room.

_March 11 -- The fever was still with me and my muscles were sore. I called in sick. In the evening I received a message asking me to return to the hospital. I found that about 20 of my colleagues had similar symptoms. We decided to stay for observation.

_March 12-20 -- The fever remained, as did the soreness, but I could walk about the ward. However, as more colleagues felt sick, I asked my family not to visit me. We kept in contact by phone.

_March 21 -- My sickness suddenly took a turn for the worst. I could neither move my body nor speak. My temperature was sky-high. I had difficulty in breathing and needed a respirator. My wife took the brave step of visiting me, but as she works for the Department of Health, she knew the risks and wore protective gear. Her first observation was that I had lost weight. I was conscious but unable to talk. It came to my mind that this could be the last time I would see her.

_March 22 -- I hovered between consciousness and unconsciousness. I knew that some of my colleagues had come to visit me. They insisted on staying to look after us. I was touched and I vowed that I would fight this thing. After a second dose of Ribavirin and steroids, my condition improved. After the third, my fever dropped and my breathing improved.

_A few days later -- I started recovering at a fast pace and the X-rays showed my lungs were not affected. I was still isolated but was sent to a sanatorium together with other recovering colleagues. I still felt very weak. The drug appeared to have affected my blood and I lost about 4.5 kilograms in weight. With nothing to do, I started wondering about the disease. We knew then that the first patients admitted to the Prince of Wales and Kwong Wah hospitals came from the mainland. And I kept asking myself why did that mainland medical professor visit Hong Kong for a wedding banquet, even when he knew he was unwell?

_March 30 -- Pure joy. I knew I would be discharged from hospital the next day and would see my home again after more than 20 days. Today I was interviewed by reporters about my experiences as a doctor and as a patient. I made a pledge that as soon as I was fully recovered, I would return to fight this virus, which I now hate so much. I also had time to reflect on just how dedicated our medical workers are.

_March 31 -- I returned home today. I donated some blood which I hope can save other patients. I aim to recover my strength as soon as possible so I can return to my work.
--------------------

Most characteristic symptoms in this case, in my opinion:

Soreness of muscles:
Generalities, pain, sore, muscles
Extremities, pain, influenza

"I could neither move nor speak":
Extremities, paralysis, stiffness, with
Extremities, stiffness, paralytic

"conscious but could not talk":
Mouth, speech, wanting
Generalities, weakness, aversion to talk, with

(Breathing impeded)
(Definite weight loss)

The extreme soreness of muscles with stiffness, the elevated CPK Creatinphosphokinase or Creatinkinase) that is reported in several sources, which is a strong indication for muscle damage (or for hemolysis), makes this symptom a characteristic one in SARS.

Therefore, I would focus on the group of remedies described in rubrics like "Extremities, pain, influenza". Eup-per comes to mind (as also confirmed by the French homoeopath F. Schmitt in the post from Melanie Grimes).

Causticum seems especially interesting because of the other symptoms.

Of course, if there's inflammation of the lungs (which was not the case in THIS case) other remedies will come to mind, too - such as Phos, Ars, Lyc, Lach.

Yet, we should take into account, that this illness is not as devastating as the 'normal' influenza. The morbidity is less, and mortality is probably similar.

The focus that has been put on this disease by the media is mainly because of two reasons:
- the etiological factor hasn't yet been defined for sure (a new Corona-virus being the most probably, but Paramyxovirus has been found as well, as has been a certain strain of Chlamydia) - conventional treatment hasn't been found for the severe form - in normal influenza, old and weakened individuals are the ones who are most at risk - while in this case, healthy individuals, neither too young nor too old) are succumbing to death.

Those 78 deaths that are reported till now worldwide in 2223 defined cases represent 3.5% mortality, which isn't a high mortality for epidemics.

Yet, from the allopathic point of view, a NEW virus (possibly/probably emerged as a virus strain borne/mutating from animal sources) always presents a new problem: because they don't have a strategy to fight it, until antibody sera and prophylactic vaccines are developed to fight it.

If a virus is able to mutate often, this strategy of control is bound to fail.

Yet, from a homoeopathic perspective, the name of the virus doesn't matter. It's important to follow the characteristic of the disease, (so it will be of interest, if the disease is spread via droplet infection, or even be transferred by excrements, as it is often the case in Coronavirus in animals), to get the symptoms (especially at the beginnings: if there are chills alternating with fever, if there is accompanying thirst etc).

But the case description above will give us already some precious hints.

All the best,

Gaby

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaby Rottler
Germany
rottler@curantur.de

http://www.curantur.de
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Shirley Reischman