Word watch

Gary Pekeles suggests that the term “disinterested” is prone to misinterpretation. We agree, and would add that another misconception is to equate the term with the concept of “no longer interested.” We also agree that the term “uninterested” is more appropriate for situations where the agent lacks interest or concern.

What we failed to mention in our article1 was that we chose the term “disinterested” deliberately. Our purpose in writing the article was to provide a fair personal account from the perspective of 2 physicians not heavily involved with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Make no mistake: we have always been mindful of infection control when conducting invasive procedures and other treatments that require sterile technique.

We wish we had expressed ourselves more clearly in another regard. Specifically, the SARS outbreak affected millions of people, whereas our article is physician-centric. Canadian data currently indicate that there have been 43 deaths from SARS in this country, including 2 nurses and 1 physician.2 Many people suffered far worse than the 2 of us.

Michael J. Schull Donald A. Redelmeier Clinical Epidemiology Unit Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre Toronto, Ont.