Super Pneumonia or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, SARS

A very serious form of atypical pneumonia is the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), a condition that affects greatly the lungs. This syndrome was over promoted in the past and erroneous ideas were emitted but those ideas can easy be disregarded when looking over the facts. Of course, SARS is a serious condition, but not as it was said. What reasons triggered those exaggerations remains however unknown. One of the important means of those exaggerations was the media, which generated a real mass hysteria around this subject.

The media oversized the subject of SARS endemics from Asia and the later outbreaks from America , subject that quickly became world wide known and caused panic. Even more, the media introduced exacerbated rumors and suppositions into the subject, increasing thus the hysteria and the panic and referring to the SARS condition as to “super pneumonia” or “killer pneumonia”. This condition is in fact curable and the number of the victims of this virus is much lower than the one stipulated in the media.

Because of the wrong information that was provided to the people about this condition, it was believed that this malady is deadly and unknown causes. Those beliefs are far from reality. After further research, the scientists discovered that the cause for this malady is a viral organism that also produces the common flu, organism called paramyxoviruses. Considering this aspect, this “super pneumonia” is nothing else than a complicated influenza. Other than that, the number of the victims caused by SARS is a lot smaller than the number of victims of seasonal flu. For instance, in China , out of 1500 persons affected by SARS, only fifty have died.

The medical reports also show that in America there were only forty cases of SARS infection and all the patients survived. Meanwhile, influenza makes thousands of victims every year in America and world wide. There are more than 50 types of pneumonia that can lead to death and up to 20 of them can be considered to have a higher lethal potential than SARS. Over 40 thousands persons die each year in the United States because of pneumonia.

The answers related to the contagiousness of the SARS were provided by the statistics mentioned above. More to it is that compared to the contagiousness of the common influenza, which affects million of persons every year, the SARS transmissibility can be neglected. SARS is also treatable. Medical care and immediate treatment, as in the case of the other types of pneumonia, can easily cure this condition.

Considering the fact that media did nothing more than boosting their ratings, we advise people not to trust everything they say and think twice before judging anything related to this matter.