We apologize to Dr. Sakae Inouye for changing his sex. The week-before-last-week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian described Dr. Inouye’s well-articulated theory about how the SARS virus might be spread by people speaking one, rather than another, language. (See that column here.)
Dr. Inouye subsequently sent us this note:
Thank you for your introducing my hypothesis in the Jan 20 issue of The
Education Guardian.
I am a public health specialist and, at the time of the SARS upheaval, was so much intrigued on why there were no Japanese patients. Last June, when I thought of the hypothesis, SARS virus was believed to be
spread via droplets in the community.It eventually turned out that the virus was shed in feces and may have been spread via hands in the community. In the hospital, however, the virus was spread in droplets from coughing patiens to nurses and physicians. Foreign tourists to China would have never visited hospitals; they must have been
infected in the community.My new hypothesis: The Japanese do not shake hands, but bow.
It is great fun to do improbable research.
Best regards,Sakae Inouye, MD, PhD
Otsuma Women’s University, TokyoA mail from a male.