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Since November 1, 2002 up to July 11, 2003, SARS has spread to 32 countries worldwide. There have been 8437 reported cases with over 813 deaths. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is a respiratory illness that had been reported in Asia, North America, and Europe. Every citizen living in the affected city became paranoid and frightened. In general, SARS begins with a fever greater than 100.4°F [>38.0°C]. Other symptoms may include headache, an overall feeling of discomfort, and body aches. Some people also experience mild respiratory symptoms. After 2 to 7 days, SARS patients may develop a dry cough and have trouble breathing. The primary way that SARS appears to spread is by close person-to-person contact. Most cases of SARS have involved people who cared for or lived with someone with SARS, or had direct contact with infectious material (for example, respiratory secretions) from a person who has SARS. Potential ways in which SARS can be spread include touching the skin of other people or objects that are contaminated with infectious droplets and then touching your eye(s), nose, or mouth. This can happen when someone who is sick with SARS coughs or sneezes droplets onto themselves, other people, or nearby surfaces. It also is possible that SARS can be spread more broadly through the air or by other ways than are currently not known. It has caused serious economic downturn for several countries in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Toronto. It affected the food industry, hotels, travel industry and airlines. On March 30, 2003, when a list member in my public Yahoo E-Group Fourpillars-fengshui@yahoo.com asked me about the SARS I told my list member the following: I have been watching this event closely. From all the countries where SARS have been reported, I don't see India or Pakistan on the list. I know there is little beef consumed in these two countries. If we look at the annual flying stars, #2 is in North, both pre-heaven and late heaven Kun trigram are in North. If you know your trigrams well enough, Kun in food is associated with beef and meat of wildlife animals. As we all know Cantonese Chinese from Guangdong love wildlife animal meats as delicacy. Besides the annual flying star, in Period 8, #2 also resides in NE, Gen is also associated with wildlife animal meats. I think it's the food that cause the problem, work on the stomach by cleaning it out first, then strengthen it again may help. The lung only shows the symptom, may not be the real cause. On May 23/2003 at 06:47 EDT the following news confirmed what I saw. GENEVA (AP) - The World Health Organization lifted its SARS-related travel advisories Friday against Hong Kong and the Chinese province of Guangdong, saying the outbreaks are under control there. Researchers in Hong Kong, meanwhile, said they may have traced the disease to civet cats - a delicacy eaten by some Chinese. In Hong Kong, local researchers announced they believe the disease came from civet cats, which are sold as food in China. Civet cats are not true cats, but short-haired mammals with long bodies, short legs, and tails. They resemble small raccoons or weasels. University of Hong Kong researchers said that to prevent more outbreaks of SARS in people, the cats and other game food animals should be raised, slaughtered and sold under careful monitoring. The researchers had previously said SARS came from animals but they had not been sure which kind. If we look closely at the 2002 annual flying star chart, we can see that the annual 2 illness star was in the South, it might explain the first outbreak came from Guangdong. This year the annual 2 illness star moves to the North might indicate the SARS spread from Guangdong to Beijing. Another indicator can be the San Sha location in the West this year. West represents the respiratory system. I happened to be in Hong Kong for two weeks during May, I talked to couple of friends there. They both blamed the SARS on biological chemical warfare from US or China. One of them is a Feng Shui master another is a TCM practitioner. I could see how ignorant and naïve people could be. I explained to both from the Feng Shui perspective as well as from Traditional medicine theory. In TCM, we know SARS is a seasonal epidemic, rooted in winter but surfaced in the Spring, it's called Spring warmth in TCM terms. Spring warmth can only survive during the Spring, once summer arrives, it should be over. I have told my friends in Hong Kong that SARS would be history when summer comes. I never wore any masks while I was in Hong Kong. As of June 21, the day Summer officially arrives, most of the cities affected had been cleared of SARS except China, Hong Kong and Toronto. Toronto was the last city in the world to be cleared of SARS before July 2. From what I can understand from the SARS symptoms, the critical point is the conventional medical doctors' inability to control the fever, after having the fever for a prolonged period of more than 7 days, the lung starts to deteriorate, and then the patient dies slowly. As I watched an interview given by a Chinese/Canadian conventional medical doctor, he said he used a medical technique called "Front-end loading" to deal with several SARS cases in Hong Kong with success. The treatment used 6 different drugs and would cost between HK$120,000 and HK$150,000 per patient. The exchange rate is HK$7.8 to USD $1. I also watched another TV interview in which a conventional medical doctor from Hong Kong gave TCM herbal treatment to her own sister secretly, her sister recovered from SARS. China is combining both western and Chinese medicine to deal with SARS, the results showed the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine. China was off the SARS list early than Toronto where only western medicine is used. Controlling fever is not difficult using Chinese herbs, it can be done within 3-5 days, and treating SARS shouldn't take more than two weeks. I was happy to see that the Hong Kong government invited two TCM experts from China to look into the SARS cases in Hong Kong hospitals. Sometimes, it makes me wonder why people can't put aside personal interests, ego and differences to work together for the benefit of the patients. Every professional in the health care industry should only have the patient's interest first. Every life is priceless and people should not have died
unnecessarily. Peter Leung July 16, 2003
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