- Note - The information in this email reads sensibly.
The source remains to be confirmed. -ed
-
-
- From Dr. Justin Wu who has been managing the SARS in
Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong for the past few weeks.
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- Dear all,
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- Hundreds of staff working with me face the same risk
of infection.
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- Sadly over last 2-week fight 8% of our staff have been
infected despite droplet precaution, probably due to pitfalls like air
leak on N95 mask, rubbing eyes/nose after touching the mask, etc.
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- So, you can imagine how contagious this virus is! The
outbreak in Amoy Garden is not surprising to me because this is exactly
what has happened in ward 8A. The only difference is that the number of
infectious index cases now in Amoy Garden is 60 times of PWH's.
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- We do believe this infection has wide spectrum of clinical
presentation ranging from sorethroat and low grade fever to full blown
ARDS/BOOP. We think the clinical presentation depends partly on the dose
of inoculum.
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- The ultimate protection against this new virus is our
immunity and invitably all of us will be infected eventually. The purpose
of preventive measure is to minimize the dose of virus so as to avoid severe
complication. Could you please forward these messages to all your friends
and relatives and ask them to distribute further?
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- 1. Always wear a well-fitted mask (N95 or 3 ply surgical)
in escalator, bus, MTR, train, office, restaurant and shopping mall. Don't
go to cinema. Push the button in the lift using your key to avoid any direct
contact with your bare hand. If you can tolerate a latex glove, wear it.
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- 2. Don't touch your mask, it traps a lot of droplets.
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- 3. All the surfaces within a distance of 5 feet from
a patient are highly infectious because of droplets. Wash your hands frequently.
Don't rub your eyes, touch your nose or mouth before washing hands.
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- 4. Clean the door handles, furnitures and floor with
diluted (1 in 100) bleaching detergent. Dettol is NOT useful. Wash your
clothes immediately after going home.
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- 5. Patient is highly infectious 2-3 days even before
developing illness. Treat those without wearing mask potentially infectious
even if they look healthy.
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- Take care.
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