HOW ARE YOU HONEY?
Nowadays everytime I read the local news or talk to my parents or anyone in Asia I would ask if they are well because of fears related to the SARS.. My mum told me that she read in the papers that this disease is spreading among the pork-eaters.. non of the victims have been Muslims so far.. I even asked my friend in Japan and he said that people there are walking around wearing masks initially for the fear of the influenza virus and now the SARS virus.. Monina has been so kind as to distribute some interesting information which is shedding light to the information which my mum has told me.. and I wanted to share some citings from it with my fellow readers.

TIME ASIA ONLINE, 7 April, 2003, 'The Breeding Grounds' "Pigs are particularly dangerous,because they can be infected by human viruses and those from animals such as rodents and fowl, making them the most potent mixing vessels in which pathogens can mutate and jump from animal species to humans. It's no surpise, then, that southern China is thought to have been ground zero for the deadly SARS virus. For centuries, Guangdong province has had the world's largest concentration of humans, pigs and fowl living in close proximity, explaining why many influenza outbreaks can be traced back to that region." - TIME ASIA ONLINE.

GLOBE AND MAIL, April 11, 2003 'Asians No SARS Risk, PM Says, "A team of German researchers said the new pathogen is only distantly related to known coronaviruses. A second team of international researchers also revealed to known coronaviruses. A second team of international researchers also revealed a tantalizing clue about the origins of SARS: They found that the new human coronavirus behaves in a manner almost identical to a coronavirus that caused an outbreak of respiratory disease among pigs in China.

This suggests the pathogen crossed the species barrier from pigs to humans. The researchers also sugguested the new virus be named Urbani SARS-related coronavirus, in honour of Carlos Urbani, the Italian doctor credited with spotting the outbreak, who died of SARS."

Dr Mark Salter: 'I think the likelihood of this being connected to any terrorist reaction is so small as to be not a realistic option. The reason I say that is we are looking at major agent that seems to be causing this is called the corona virus - they are commonly found in the environment, and corona viruses are responsible for about 15 - 20% of colds in human beings. We also know that they can cause particularly severe disease in pigs and other animals. So these viruses are not uncommon. We also know that some of the corona viruses are able to change when they pass through the pigs and various other animals that they infect and, it seems highly likely that what we're seeing is perhaps a pig virus that for whatever reason has changed slightly and been able to get into human beings and now we're seeing it's spreading and causing this problem.

Allah berfirman didalam Al-Quran:
"SESUNGGUHNYA ALLAH TELAH MENGHARAMKAN KEPADA MU BANGKAI, DARAH DAN DAGING BABI."
- ( Surah Al-Baqarah Ayat 173 )

On the lighter side, I talked to Maria (my cousin's wife) and she told me that she might be able to make it to my graduation ceremony next month.. I'm so happy that I'm going to see them soon.. I think maybe after the MG I might drive over to see them..