What Happened at Our Meeting
PE. Henry initiated today's session by thanking everyone who came and showed their support, despite the general "fear" about the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic in the city. He also noted that there were a number of cancellations of the regular meetings by other clubs, recently due to the SARS. He then welcomed our only visitor of the day, Rtn. William Drake of the Kowloon Golden Mile. William mentioned that his club was one of those clubs that cancelled its regular session, because of the virus.
PP. John Kwok then took the rostrum to alert members about a typographical error on the bulletin regarding the new date for the 43rd District Assembly: the actual date should have been 18th May instead of 18th June. PE. Henry also urged members to try register for the event as soon as possible through his secretary. VP. Rudy, who acted as the Sergeant-at-Arms, reported a handsome collection of HK$1,050 - a job well done, despite the low turn-out today!
PP. John then introduced our featured speaker, our own Rtn. Dr. Lewis Fung, a well-qualified medical practitioner by profession, to talk about the most heated topic in town - SARS. Rtn. Dr. Lewis first mentioned that he was only requested to talk on the topic yesterday late afternoon, and fortunately, he was able to collect sufficient data and materials in time for today's presentation. (A solid proof of how eclectic and resilient our members were professionally!) Rtn. Dr. Lewis also added that he was not ready to claim that he was an expert on infectious disease, but he was willing to share his knowledge and understanding of the SARS, derived from his current practice. He then embarked on his presentation by describing that the acronym SARS was actually derived somewhat from the common medical acronym ARDS (Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome). Rtn. Dr. Lewis further dwelled upon the two major categories of pneumonia, namely, Bacterial and Atypical (e.g. Mycoplasma, Viral, and Chemical). He stressed that the fundamental difference between the two types or pneumonia lied in their causative agents.
According to Rtn.Dr. Lewis, the SARS was first recognized in February, 2003 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The SARS was then identified as a form of atypical pneumonia, which, in turn, was characterized by symptoms like high fever (over 38 degree centigrade), dry cough, breathing difficulties, and rapidly deteriorating conditions. Rtn. Dr. Lewis then showed a table that compared the number of SARS cases around the world (as of March 27). According to the data, China possessed the majority of count with 806 confirmed cases and 34 deaths. Meanwhile, Rt. Dr. Lewis believed that China's numbers were grossly underestimated. China was followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, and USA, in that order. In addition, Rtn.Dr. Lewis showed a table of the symptoms and their frequency of occurrences. For that matter, in 100% of the cases, victims exhibited the high-fever symptom. This was followed by Chills (92%), Malaise (90%), Headache (84%), Myalgia (67%), Cough (50%), Dizziness (49%), Rigors (44%), Sore Throat (43%), Runny Nose (39%) and Productive Cough (36%).
Rtn. Dr. Lewis further discussed certain discovered facts about the SARS, but he cautioned members that some of these topics were still being studies by scientists around the world, and thus, the findings might be changing over time. On the SARS's mode of transmission, he mentioned that the virus was not likely to be airborne, but was mostly spread through droplets that might have been caused by close contact with infected persons or contaminated working surfaces. The virus might be able to survive three to six hours when attached to a surface. The incubation period of the virus typically lasted between two to seven days. Victims frequently exhibited the symptoms of infection after three to four days of contact. On the other hand, the symptoms might not appear until after 10 days of infection. The causative agent of SARS had been identified (without absolute certainty) to be likely the Coronovirus. However, scientists were still suspicious of other types of virus. Scientists also suspected that the original source of the virus might be animals, such as pigs. In addition, the sensitivity of the rapid test that had been developed so far was only around 50%.
Rtn. Dr. Lewis then described that the diagnosis of SARS included (i) the presence of CXR finding; (ii) fever of 38 degree centigrade in the last two days; (iii) the presence of at least two of the following symptoms: chills any time in the last two days, new/increased coughing and new/increased shortness of breadth. The diagnosis also excluded the following conditions: leucocytosis, lobar consolidation and bacterial. Rt. Lewis vividly showed these different conditions with some X-ray shots. There were so far three major types of treatment that had to be administered concurrently in most cases, namely, antiviral agent (Ribavirin), Steroid (Methylprednisolone, Hydrocortisone or Prednisolone, depending on the severity of the conditions), and Anti-bacterial as well as Anti-ulcer agents. The preventive measures of the virus, included good personal hygiene, hand-washing with soap and water, wearing of protective masks (N95 or surgical), environmental disinfection, building up of good body immunity, maintaining good ventilation, and avoiding visits of crowded places with poor ventilation.
Lastly, Rt. Dr. Lewis addressed the prognosis of the virus, about which he cited an approximate 4% of mortality rate with the current mode of treatment. He also emphasized that the mortality rate was high when the victim was presented late with severe signs and symptoms. Subsequently, there were numerous pent-up questions from members, causing time to overrun. Finally, PE. Henry had to defer some of the questions, and thanked Rt. Dr. Lewis for his enlightening talk on the heated subject in the usual Rotarian manner. He then ended the session by proposing a toast to the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile.
Verification
In compliance with the promise appeared in our Tung Feng Weekly Bulletin Vol. 50 No. 30 dated 19th February 2003, we wish to verify that two districts in Japan, viz., District 2520 and District 2280 will be merged into one district, known as District 2520 covering two prefectures such as Iwate and Miyagi, hence as from lst July 2003, there will be only 529 districts worldwide.
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Magazine Month Entering into the month of April, it is appropriate to touch on the subject which RI has designated as Magazine Month.
We all know the English language monthly magazine known as "The Rotarian" which we have all subscribed is the official publication of Rotary International. It is mandatory that each and every member must subscribe. Besides this official magazine, there are many other regional magazines issued in different languages to suit the readers who do not understand the English language. For example, a Chinese speaking club can order the Chinese language publication for its members instead of the usual English magazine as substitute.
For further information, more than half of the Rotarians worldwide are served by one of the 27 RI regional magazines listed below. These publications are produced independently by Rotarian. They are distributed in 121 countries, published in 20 languages, and have a combined total circulation of 750,000. Each magazine is unique, with a local editorial slant. At the same time, the regional magazines include required articles and photographs of international Rotary interest that they receive from "The Rotarian"
Name of Regional Magazine Language Country Served Rotary Africa English Botswana, Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Nambia, Reunion, Seychelles, S.Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Vida Rotaria (Argentina) Spanish Argentina Rotary Down Under English Australia, A. Samoa, New Zealand,
Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Cook Island
New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu.Rotary Contact Dutch, French & German Belgium & Luxemburg Brazil Rotario Portuguese Brazil El Rotario de Chile Spanish Chile The Rotarian Monthly Chinese Taiwan, HK & Macau Colombia Rotaria Spanish Colombia Good News Czech & Slovak Czech Rep. & Slovakia
Rotary Magazine (Egypt) Arabic, Eng. & French Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan & Sudan Le Rotarian French France & French speaking areas Der Rotarier German Germany & Austria Rotary Magazine English Great Britain & Ireland Rotary News/Rotary Samachar English & Hindi Bangladesh, India, Napal & Sri Lanka Rotary Israel Hebrew Israel Rotary (Italy) Italian Italy, Malta, San Marino & Albania Rotary-No-Tomo Japanese Japan The Rotary Korea Korean Korea Rotarismo En Mexico Spanish Mexico
De Rotarian Dutch The Netherlands El Rotario Peruano Spanish Peru Philippine Rotary English Philippines Listy Rotarianskie Polish Poland Portugal Rotario Portuguese Portugal, Macau, Rwanda, Angola Rotary Norden Danish, Finn, Norwegian & Swedish Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway & Sweden Rotary Suisse-Liechtenstein German, French & Italian Liechtenstein & Switzerland Thai Rotarian Thai Thailand Rotary Dergisi Turkish Turkey Nueva Revista Rotaria Spanish Bolivia, costa Rica, Dom.Republic. Ecuador, El salvador, Guatamala, Honduras, Nicaragua. Pananma, Paraguay, Uruguay & Venezuela
Middle Aged Woman - Looks Can Be Deceiving
A middle aged woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital.
While on the operating table she had a near death experience. Seeing God she asked "Is my time up?" God said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live."
Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a facelift, liposuction, and a tummy tuck. She even had someone come in and change her hair color. Since she had so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of it.
After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was killed by an ambulance.
Arriving in front of God, she demanded, "I thought you said I had another 40 years? Why didn't you pull me out of the path of the ambulance?"
God replied, "I didn't recognize you."
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