The New York Times: Here's the gripping story of Dr. Yu Cheuk-man, an associate professor of cardiology in Hong Kong, who contracted SARS and lived to tell about it.
10:45:12 PM    comment []  

New York Times: "At least 4,000 Beijing residents who have been exposed to SARS are being kept in isolation, health authorities said."
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BBC News: "The death rate for SARS could be significantly higher than previously thought, an expert study into the virus is expected to suggest. "

The research suggests that the virus could kill between 8% and 15% of those infected.
10:26:40 PM    comment []  

Motley Fool: "Two biotechs are working on treatments but remain risky investments. But there's more than one reason for investors to be careful here."

"Medarex (Nasdaq: MEDX) jumped 12% after it said it entered into an agreement with the University of Massachusetts Medical School in which it hopes to co-develop fully human antibodies to the respiratory illness. Meanwhile, GenVec (Nasdaq: GNVC) has signed an agreement with the National Institutes of Health to begin development of a clinical grade vaccine for SARS. GenVec is up 75% today."

Savvy biotech investors realize that new treatments take years to get products to market. Caveat emptor!

-Tim
11:14:18 AM    comment []  

Reuters: The economic impact of SARS is spreading faster than the virus as it threatens to evolve from a short-term blow to Asian demand into a shock capable of disrupting global trade and output.

So far the effect has been largely on spending by Asian consumer -- keeping people out of shops and entertainment venues, and curtailing travel and holiday plans -- but quarantine measures and fears of the disease spreading could hit production. "Investors are no longer focusing on countries with high counts of infections and deaths," Philip Wee, treasury markets strategist at DBS in Singapore said."

"Attention is starting to shift to economic fallout on countries that are dependent on affected countries for growth."

Click on full text of the story for more on the "Production Threat" and "Travel Hit" that is plaguing Asia because of SARS.

-Jennifer
10:13:43 AM    comment []  

New York Times: "A leading American virologist said that death rates from the illness may vary among countries, in part because of differences in strains of the virus." - By Lawrence K. Altman.
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Toronto Globe and Mail: "Doctors struggling to contain the SARS outbreak have laboured for more than a month under the notion that this insidious virus can live no more than a few hours outside a human host.

But disturbing new research has discovered otherwise.

Studies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that, unlike most respiratory viruses medicine knows, the microbe behind SARS can survive up to 24 hours on inanimate objects, turning any surface into a possible point of transmission."
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BioSpace.com: "The threat of infection by the new respiratory illness known as SARS suddenly became virtually the only topic of conversation in this city of 14 million, as reported cases of the disease in Beijing surged by another 105 today, bringing the total to 693."
12:15:23 AM    comment []