This is very troubling. Heres what CNN says:
The disease, called severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), has infected people from China to Canada, with more than 150 new or suspected cases
reported in the last week.
Two members of an American-Canadian family died in Canada last week after returning to North America from a holiday in Hong Kong.
U.S. warning
The CDC "is advising persons traveling on non-essential or elective travel to affected areas that they may wish to postpone their trips until further
notice," Dr. Julie Gerberding, the agency's director, said in a rare Saturday news conference.
No cases have been confirmed in the United States. But early Saturday, a doctor from Singapore on a flight home from New York was taken off a plane
during a stopover in Frankfurt after showing signs of SARS, German and New York City health officials said.
The doctor, who was in New York for a conference, had treated two patients in Singapore with SARS, the New York City Department of Health said.
He attended the conference for only "a few hours," the department said, and had "minimal contact with others" during his two days in the city.
The physician has been hospitalized with a respiratory illness, the health department said.
Also, another person who traveled from the state of Georgia to Canada appears to have been stricken with the illness, Gerberding said.
Asked whether the outbreak could have been caused by terrorism, Gerberding said, "We have to keep an open mind."
Transport authorities, however, are not convinced the matter is anything other than a health issue.
"All information at present indicates this is a public health issue unrelated to any act of terrorism," a spokesman for the Transportation Security
Administration, which oversees security on airlines, said
The illness is characterized by fever higher than 101 degrees Fahrenheit [39.3 degrees Celsius] and respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath,
coughing or difficulty breathing.
Doctors are being urged to look for the illness in people who have either been in close contact with someone diagnosed with the disease or who have
recently traveled to areas reporting cases of the illness.
Okay, so if it's in Canada already, it shouldnt be long before it rears its ugly head in the US. I have a theory (albeit a dumb one) that North Korea
could have possibly done this as a diversionary tactic. I mean, were about to go to war with Iraq, and Korea is next. Korea knows this, so while we
are at war with Iraq they create a little diversion so they can get their act together and launch an attack. Okay, thats my stupid theory