"SARS-like" MERS-CoV claims another victim -- mortality rate has passed 50 percent

[Gabby Hayes]

It's on the move. Out of the 44 persons who have been infected, 23 have died.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/world/europe/france-man-dies-from-new-sars-like-infection.html?_r=0

A question for anyone: During the 2003 SARS pandemic, CNN quoted an unnamed intelligence official who referred to SARS as a "white collar wet dream." Does that term mean anything to anyone?

There's another lingering mystery about that 2003 pandemic. Health officials in the U.S. offered a very vague and suspicious list of possible symptoms of SARS, ranging from a high fever to a low-grade fever, or perhaps a mid-range fever. Infected persons, they added, might also have a bad cough, or just a nagging cough or some sneezing. My wife is a long-time physician, and she and the larger medical community she works with are still befuddled over the peculiar symptoms.

[nebenaube]

1. .

In that context, I believe the inference regards it's effectiveness as a weapon. There was a lot of chatter about 'useless-eaters' back then.