Boomhauer

So the Qatari visits Saudi, where another man with similar symtons died. The Qatari is admitted in Qatar with respiratory problems and when condition worsens he is flown on private jet to London.

He is now in quarantine in London at a NHS hospital, where " Doctors and nurses are wearing full protective equipment, including goggles, gowns and gloves, when treating the man who is in strict respiratory isolation."

" Anyone who was in close contact with the patient is being sought after - including healthcare workers who provided direct clinical or personal care, while he was symptomatic."


YIKES!!

Just think how many people would have come into contact with him in Doha and London without appropriate protection as they didn't know what he had. Still while it all sounds rather scary, probably not as contagious as we might imagine, or else people would be admitted left and right.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...e-country.html

Bahtatboy

No cause for alarm, there's a cure just round the corner:

Dangerous cases of faith leaders who tell people with HIV to stop taking their life-saving drugs have been identified by African-led community groups in a number of locations across England.

Seven groups said there were instances of people being told by faith leaders they had been "healed" through prayer - and then pressured to stop taking antiretroviral medication, according to the charity African Health Policy Network (AHPN).

Cases were reported to have taken place in Finsbury Park, Tottenham, and Woolwich, in London, as well as in Manchester, Leeds and at a number of churches across the North West.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19656649

Boomhauer

What if the reverse happened; what if a non local entered Qatar with a deadly virus and Qatar had world class medical facilities, would Qatar boot the person or treat him.

OriginalSunshine

so, of course, it's time for Haj..... oh dear!

OleJanx

What a daft question. Qatar always chooses to boot!

Kix

We don't know that, and he was flown to UK on a private jet, he obviously has some money, he'll be in a private hospital and be paying all the bills surely...

Boomhauer

I was being rhetorical

OleJanx

The Qatari's always ship their own out to Harley street if it doesn't look too promising, and until recently paid for a chaperone to go with them. The chaperoning used to be a full time job for feckless young Qatari's, and the state paid.

al dente

God, spent the night worrying about this.

This winter could be bloody petrifying. How do you think this region would cope with a SARS epidemic? Very irrational of me but the idea of it spreading here is too easy to contemplate.

The Qatari may have gone to the UK but, at least there, he'll be in proper isolation and they will be able to use him for research too. I'd rather one sick Qatari over there under obs then 200 over here under denial.

shiva

these things appear almost daily and globally, yes sooner or later it will be the one that wipes out 80% of all mankind, given its current death toll of two in 6 months this isn't the one.

calm down

more people will die of the common cold in the next 24hrs than this has killed this year. oh and as for haj, hundreds if not thousands die there every year mostly from crush injuries, dysentery, and various other communicable diseases

just because the papers have finally picked up on a daily story doesnt mean its time to panic, oh and sars was one of the least deadly diseases of the last century but a few people sold a lot of tamiflu and made a lot of money.

Millhouse

In this scenario - I really hope I'm in the 80%. It will be a bloody miserable existence for the survivors - just imagine it.

shiva

disagree it will be bloody miserable during it, being sick with no hope of treatment and immediately afterwards. History shows us that humans are pretty resilient and that the aftermath isnt that bad especially in comparison to the horror people have just experienced

Millhouse

who will bury the dead? who will grow your food? who will provide security? who will manage shop-n-ship for your Amazon.com orders?

Previously we were not dependent on supply chains across the globe. Today, you'd be ****ed even for the basics - you simply don't have the skills to grow wheat and make bread.

shiva

again, i disagree, most don't have the skills but a lot do. (i could confidently grow, harvest, process then eat a nice loaf of bread)
the most likely to survive would be those in the countryside, those who are isolated, so that would be the farmers most of whom would manage just fine, yes crop yields wouldn't be what they were but they wouldnt have to be. in the big cities it would be awful on a scale i barely wish to imagine, farmers in the west would struggle more but farmers from poorer western countries or the developing world would probably see a significant increase in their standard of living.

the sheer hell of an event like this is hard to comprehend and the currently most "advanced" countries would suffer the most but millions will survive.

todays kids, the i.... generation in the west are truely ****ed though, i'll grant you that, given the studies that show most dont know where eggs or milk come from but then again the world is probably better off without them anyway

Cypselos

It's the breakdown in the water supply system that'd knacker most Western populations quickest.