Outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: case report

May I postulate this deadly virus has the following characteristics :

1. It is highly infectious because it infects by air-borne.

2. If the body temperature is below 36C, it grows very fast.

3. The destructive immune reaction will take some time (? 7-10 days) to
develop. Patients then start to have high fever.

4. During this period, if the body temperature is above 36.5C, and better
still, above 37C, the virus is attenuated or killed. Body will develop a
milder immune response and recover.

5. Patients with high fever can kill the virus. That is why CDC advocates
some patients recovered without anti-viral therapy.

Supports of this hypothesis are :

1. The victims usually stay in a cold environment for a reasonable time
after being infected, eg. in ward, hotel, aeroplane cabins, air-
conditioned offices.

2. This year, the climate in HK and Canton is extraordinarily cold and
persistent.

3. The weather in Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia is hot, so their
outbreaks are easily controlled. The air-conditioning in HK and Singapore
are too cool, so control is difficult. Canada ia again too cold, so the
outbreak is serious.

4. Children (especially under age of 8 years) in China are much less
affected because they have higher metabolic rate and they are more active
(eg. travel a long distance to school and many other physical activities).
Children in HK are very sedentary, their homes and schools are air-
conditioned. Therefore the infection incidence of children are same as
adults in HK.

5. Elderly and people with chronic illness have lower BMR. They have
higher incidence rate and mortality.

6. Coronavirus can be found in cats, dogs, pigeons, ducks and geese. They
are not infected because all of them have very high BMR.

7. It is well known that herbal medicine can increase the metabolic rate
and kill the virus. The herbs prescribed in Canton are commented by WHO to
be effective.

8. Passengers from an infected aeroplane cabin have a greater chance to
cause an outbreak in a cold place,

9. Pregnant women are much less infected. They have high BMR. Are those
500 contact pregnant women free from infection?

10. More data are required to analyse if active people (eg. outdoor
workers, labourers) are less prone to be infected.

Therefore, I would like to suggest a simple test to confirm this
hypothesis :
Incubate the virus at different temperature in human tissue media, say
below 36C, 36.5C, 37C, and above 37C.

If the hypothesis is correct, then control is straight forward :

1. Put on more clothes to make body really warm,

2. maintain room temperature at least above 23C,

3. do exercise for 30 minutes daily, make sure you really sweat.

Let me tell you a legend happened in HK over a hundred years ago.
HK was infected by an unknown epidemic. In frustration, people (including
the sick) came to the street and watched the "Fire Dragon" dance. As a
miracle or due to the intense heat, many sick recovered and the epidemic
disappeared.

Competing interests:  
None declared