COVID-19

[steveo73]

@Ego - that is interesting stuff.

[ertyu]

another potential factor: Italy, Spain, Europe, and the US are wheat people. China, South Korea, HK are rice people. Has anyone encountered any actual scientific reason why this might play are role? I have none so far, I'm just noticing coincidences, but would be interesting.

[Bankai]

Interesting. The argument that 'we should do what everyone else is doing' is something I expected to see since governments are incentified to 'play it safe' to keep power. I wonder how many of the '2,300 scientists' who signed the letter to the government have relevant qualifications - when there was a similar appeal in the UK a while back, only 3 out of >200 scientists signing it had anything to do with epidemiology or public health. Also worth noting that there's no pressure from the public to change the course and the government actually gained quite significantly in opinion polls since February.

[IlliniDave]

Coffee does work for asthma attacks. I love/hate it. Asthma often hits me at night - so coffee and breathing (and not panicking)== stay up all night, or try to calm down without it by finding a sitting position to rest in. For some reason, lying down is the worst. Sometimes a side position helps.

The Queen's speech really does make it seem like BJ is dying.

That's the main symptom of my asthma insofar as it has persisted into adulthood (happens at night). My prior MD said it was a "syndrome" and she gave me singulair to take before bed which has worked really well for me for almost 20 years. Anti-inflammatory nutrients like EFAs, gamma-tocopherol, ginger, and tumeric work noticeably (but anecdotally) as preventatives as well, along with relatively low-carb eating. Enough that I really only need to be diligent about the singulair during the peak allergy seasons.

Coffee helps after symptoms appear, as does just about any stimulant. But as you note those aren't great options for evening preventatives.

[IlliniDave]

My state issued a shelter-in-place order Friday, so now I carry my "papers" in the car that identify me as part of "critical infrastructure". I'm dubious that is strictly true, but it should allow me passage to/from my workplace should they decide to enforce it. Doesn't seem like they are so far, nor are people behaving any differently as far as I can tell.

I ran by my local walmart and picked up four bandannas yesterday morning. Almost no one there was following CDC guidance re respiratory port covering. On the way home I did my weekly food shopping at the local slightly upscale grocer (walmart grocery < my grocery << whole paycheck). Probably 3/4 of the customers there were following the guidance. I was part of the 25%--the bandanna rack was pretty picked over at walmart and I didn't want to wrap one of them around my face until I washed them.

Folks up in Illinois seem to be doing fairly well. My dad is doing a good job with the shelter-in-place. My sister has a compromised immune system so my brother-in-law is doing all their shopping and he usually picks up a few things for my dad.

Haven't heard more about my boss's daughter. I spoke to her yesterday when she called to say my "papers" had been emailed to me. I forgot to ask, but that she didn't say anything wells me either the results aren't back, that they were negative, and or her daughter is doing better.

[Ego]

Should we expose ourselves deliberately to COVID-19?

Presans Debate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFnP5TK61aI

Economist Robin Hanson says yes: according to him, voluntary exposure would be a cost-effective measure that should be added to our anti-COVID-10 toolbox. On April 2, 2020 he debated this proposition with Gregory Cochran, co-author of The 10,000 Year Explosion: how civilization accelerated human evolution. This exceptional debate between two excellent and impertinent thinkers was open to all and was hosted live by Presans, the leading European science and technology consulting platform.

[Jean]

In france, they are using helicopter to fine hikers. They also fine van dwellers that have no fixed address. I don't understand the rational behind this. You won't infect anyone in the mountain, unless you're dumb enough to go to a hotspot. I'm getting concerned about those restriction on liberty, and the pandemic being used to switch to a totalitarian state.

[den18]

I am seeing more articles talk about or at least mention Viral Load. I think it needs to be looked into more then it is.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/opin ... 8z14VTCGB0

[CS]

@IlliniDave
Thanks for the tip on singulair. I've been given some inhaled steroid mixtures but try to take as little as possible. I like my current height and have no interest in shrinking just yet!

[Ego]

John Yewdell from NIH was on the TWiV podcast discussing the basic immunology of Covid-19. Highly recommended. In it he spends a good bit of time discussing the innate and adaptive immune response and the importance of the microbiome in calibrating those responses.

It may be a good time to think about building healthy gut bacteria and, if possible, avoiding those things that inhibit it.

[1taskaday]

Further to Ego's point on BCG vaccination: More ‘striking’ evidence BCG vaccine might protect against Covid-19
Study shows countries with vaccination programmes have far fewer cases.

Compare Spain and Portugal numbers of positives and deaths from Covid 19.
Portugal vaccinates using BCG... Spain does not.

https://m.economictimes.com/news/scienc ... 931591.cms

[1taskaday]

"US virologist Robert Gallo of the Institute of Human Virology in Maryland has confirmed he is working with a team who will make an announcement shortly that will have “a major effect” on global efforts to tackle Covid-19.
Best known for his role in the discovery of HIV as the infectious agent responsible for AIDS, Prof Gallo did not go into detail other than to indicate it involves deployment of “an adjusted existing vaccine” that will be available within months."

Could this be about the BCG vaccine??

[den18]

John Yewdell from NIH was on the TWiV podcast discussing the basic immunology of Covid-19. Highly recommended. In it he spends a good bit of time discussing the innate and adaptive immune response and the importance of the microbiome in calibrating those responses.

It may be a good time to think about building healthy gut bacteria and, if possible, avoiding those things that inhibit it.

This mentioned a certain gut bacteria prevalant coronavirus cases in Wuhan:

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... _both_Chin

[IlliniDave]

Just got the news that my boss's daughter did test positive for c-19. So now I can say I know someone who knows someone who caught the virus. I'm a little worried about my boss now, she's got several co-morbidity factors working against her. Sigh.

[FRx]

The viral load at first exposure is probably a very small piece of the pie. The patient's stress level, hydration level, and healthy gut/skin flora will have a lot to do with how they react.
Some people will get small amounts of exposure and get "sensitized" which means that once their viral exposure is high enough to actually cause an infection, they will have a very severe and deadly immune response.
Others will get small amounts of exposure and either get a mild infection and build immunity or not get infected and build immunity.
We just don't know who will behave how. In fact, we don't know that about most disease. Which is a huge shortcoming of medicine. We've been a bit too preoccupied torturing rats in a lab which has little to do with how the human body responds to real-world health insults.
Doctors are also having a hard time to manage patients who are presenting with what looks like ARDS but isn't real ARDS. We've spent too much time trying to standardize medicine and create workflows instead of focusing on the art of medicine.

[jacob]

Boris Johnson is in ICU now.

[CS]

In the interest of less chaos, I hope they pull out all the stops for him with antibody therapy. Things are not going well as it is without losing leaders.

[CS]

I need help - was this the forum where people were discussing clotting as an issue? If there was a paper or quote I'd like to grab it. I've heard from elsewhere that there was pan-agglutination going on when looking into giving blood to nCovid patients. Antibodies to both A and B blood types. They had to use O negative.

[jacob]

@CS - I don't think it was.

[CS]

Ah, well, thank you for letting me know, @jacob