SARS and behavior

I refer to Taufik Karmadi's letter titled SARS and irrationality (The Jakarta Post, April 21), and agree that people should stop behaving in an irrational manner. This irrationality stems from ignorance of the subject matter.

For this reason, I would like to make a plea to the local journalists to do the following: In addition to reporting the number of deaths and emphasizing the countries with the largest numbers of SARS victims, kindly include more vital information such as "reasonable" precautions, quarantine periods etc.

For example, not many are aware that the amount of time the virus can survive in hot and dry climates is approximately three hours and that quarantine periods only apply to "probable SARS cases". The public should be made aware that in order to control the outbreak, they are expected to act in a responsible manner. Those with cold-like symptoms should be required to contact the relevant authorities to ascertain which hospital handle SARS cases and should be isolated pending confirmation. Random visits to any hospital should be strongly discouraged.

SARS cases, if detected in a prompt manner, and the patient is isolated and managed according to strict procedures, will minimize any risks of further spread to hospital staff and family members.

I recently came back from Singapore and was amazed how the Singapore government has handled this outbreak, in a very systematic and orderly fashion. There was no panic and life has more or less resumed as normal, the Singaporeans being aware that this would be the only way the economy could survive. It's my opinion that Singapore was able to achieve this through informative measures. Approach a child in Singapore and he or she probably knows more about the preventive measures than most adults in Jakarta.

Here, it seems, the hype is on the death tolls and commercialism. If only the public is aware of the limitations of the masks! I suggest that readers consult the website of the World Heath Organization for more information. What we need is preventive measures, not panic.

S. ARYANI, Jakarta