Coronavirus 2019-nCoV

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https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/coronavirus/st-vincents-first-hospitalized-virus-patient-recalls-struggle-to-survive/article_e2e8bd1a-ec6a-11ea-8dc7-ff4b1388a5cd.html

St. Vincent's first hospitalized virus patient recalls struggle to survive

Earl Collison recalls drifting somewhere in the ether of confounding dreams that involved, among other things, a train ride from the desert Southwest to Scotland and bird hunting with New Mexico’s most recent governors.

But he is still trying to figure out what in the world happened to two months of his life.

He admits it’s a small price to pay for surviving COVID-19.

Collison was Santa Fe’s first hospitalized COVID-19 patient at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center. He did what he calls “a 30-day stretch” attached to machines that fed him and kept him breathing, then another five weeks of slowly recuperating.

After spending nearly 10 weeks in medical facilities for treatment and recovery, he is back in his own home.

While many things in his life have returned to normal, some have not.

The illness, caused by the novel coronavirus, stripped Collison of 40 pounds and his ability to walk, and clouded his mind with vivid dreams he’s still trying to interpret, he said.

The biggest change is his voice, said his wife, Natalie Collison.

Before the illness, he had a deep baritone pitch with an easy, smooth delivery.

“It’s probably the result of the [tracheotomy], but his voice is thin and weak sometimes,” she said. “It seems like it’s gone up an octave. I don’t know if that will ever come back.”

From time to time, the good readers of this forum have heard me say that "death is not the only bad Covid-19 outcome". I've also posted many reports of folks struggling long after they avoided becoming a "death statistic". As a continuation of my pilgrimage of peace, health, and understanding... here's another.

[ShockerFever]

For every negative article out there, there is a positive one out there that offers a complete 180 perspective. It's just how you consume it in your head. For Cold, it consumes his head and automatically goes to worst case scenario upon anything.

But again, for every article you post Cold, an equal amount of articles refuting yours exists. Not sure what you're trying to prove, other than stroking yourself over fear and death.

[WstateU]

For every negative article out there, there is a positive one out there that offers a complete 180 perspective. It's just how you consume it in your head. For Cold, it consumes his head and automatically goes to worst case scenario upon anything.

But again, for every article you post Cold, an equal amount of articles refuting yours exists. Not sure what you're trying to prove, other than stroking yourself over fear and death.

He be “strokin”...

[ShockingButTrue]

Here's some truth: "The progressives found their leading man." ; D No wonder fauci hates this guy:

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For every negative article out there, there is a positive one out there that offers a complete 180 perspective. It's just how you consume it in your head. For Cold, it consumes his head and automatically goes to worst case scenario upon anything.

But again, for every article you post Cold, an equal amount of articles refuting yours exists. Not sure what you're trying to prove, other than stroking yourself over fear and death.

I absolutely agree with ya. There is an opposite perspective to what I post on here. I believe Mr. Trump calls it "Alternative Facts". In the battle between CB's postings and the "180 degree perspective", the truth is winning by a landslide.

[1972Shocker]

Haven't previously heard about this new compound that sounds promising for Covid-19 treatment:

RedHill Biopharma’s Opaganib Demonstrates Complete Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2

The Company is in discussions with U.S. government agencies around potential funding to support the rapid advancement of opaganib toward potential emergency use approval.

Opaganib, a new chemical entity, is a proprietary, first-in-class, orally-administered, sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2) selective inhibitor with anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral activities, targeting multiple oncology, viral, inflammatory, and gastrointestinal indications.

Preclinical data have demonstrated both anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities of opaganib, with the potential to reduce lung inflammatory disorders, such as pneumonia, and mitigate pulmonary fibrotic damage. Opaganib demonstrated potent antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, completely inhibiting viral replication in an in vitro model of human lung bronchial tissue. Additionally, preclinical in vivo studies⁴ have demonstrated that opaganib decreased fatality rates from influenza virus infection and ameliorated Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced lung injury by reducing the levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids.

[SB Shock]

Tom Seaver, the greatest Met of all time, dies at 75

Looks like he died from [redacted by google, facebook and twitter ] Covid-19.

FIFY

[WuDrWu]

Haven't previously heard about this new compound that sounds promising for Covid-19 treatment:

RedHill Biopharma’s Opaganib Demonstrates Complete Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2

The Company is in discussions with U.S. government agencies around potential funding to support the rapid advancement of opaganib toward potential emergency use approval.

Opaganib, a new chemical entity, is a proprietary, first-in-class, orally-administered, sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2) selective inhibitor with anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral activities, targeting multiple oncology, viral, inflammatory, and gastrointestinal indications.

Preclinical data have demonstrated both anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities of opaganib, with the potential to reduce lung inflammatory disorders, such as pneumonia, and mitigate pulmonary fibrotic damage. Opaganib demonstrated potent antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, completely inhibiting viral replication in an in vitro model of human lung bronchial tissue. Additionally, preclinical in vivo studies⁴ have demonstrated that opaganib decreased fatality rates from influenza virus infection and ameliorated Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced lung injury by reducing the levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids.

Is this a good thing?

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/really-diabolical-inside-the-coronavirus-that-outsmarted-science-11599498840

‘Really Diabolical’: Inside the Coronavirus That Outsmarted Science

SARS-CoV-2 is a wily virus, with mysterious origins and a powerful ability to infect and spread; ‘We underestimated it.’

powerful ability to infect and spread; ‘We underestimated it.’


The new coronavirus is a killer with a crowbar, breaking and entering human cells with impunity. It hitchhikes across continents carried on coughs and careless hands, driven by its own urgent necessity to survive.

It has a gregarious side that makes it hard to resist. It loves a party. The persistent social climber claims its victims around the world by riding on moments of the most innocent of human interactions—a shared laugh, a conversation, an embrace. And it is a liar. SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, often misleads the body’s immune systems.

Taken on its own terms, SARS-CoV-2 is the infectious disease success of the past 100 years.

Almost unmatched in the annals of emerging human contagions, it has parlayed a few chance infections into a pandemic of around 27 million confirmed cases so far.

Doctors long expected the advent of such a virus, but even so, the shrewdness of the coronavirus caught many by surprise, and goes a long way to explaining how the world has struggled to contain it ever since.

“We underestimated it,” said Peter Piot, the head of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a co-discoverer of Ebola, who fell victim to the coronavirus himself in March.

In Hong Kong, Yuen Kwok-yung had been waiting more than a decade for a virus like this to surface.

The 63-year-old infectious diseases professor at the University of Hong Kong became enthralled with bat coronaviruses since making the connection between bats and the original SARS outbreak in 2003, which was caused by a related coronavirus. He amassed a database of animal surveillance, showing that 39% of Chinese horseshoe bats could be harboring SARS-related coronaviruses. In 2007, he wrote in Clinical Microbiology Reviews that those findings represented “a time bomb.”

Bewildering complications


Doctors who first encountered it diagnosed it as a respiratory virus. They looked for symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath. But Covid-19 triggered bewildering complications.

People complained of nausea or diarrhea. Some had arrhythmias or even heart attacks. Some suffered kidney damage or liver failure. Some lost their sense of smell or taste. Other patients turned up at clinics with blood clots or swollen purple bumps on their toes.

In most countries where the virus triggered outbreaks, it sent people to the hospital with delirium, blackouts, brain inflammation or strokes, researchers at the U.K.’s Liverpool University reported in The Lancet Neurology in July.

In a separate review, researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons found that up to a third of those infected had neurological symptoms.

By coming into contact with this virus, “you wouldn’t know what kind of effect a meeting with it would have: Maybe you will be unscathed, but maybe you would die,” said the University of Oxford’s Sarah Gilbert, whose team is developing a vaccine against the virus that is in late-stage human trials.

With no signs of Dr. Piot’s fever subsiding over the course of a week, their suspicions began to sink in. A test confirmed: The man who had spent his life combating viruses was now besieged by one.

By the 14th day, his fever spiking, they rushed to the emergency room and he was immediately admitted. He had no breathing difficulties but his oxygen saturation levels were dangerously low, a condition called silent hypoxia. In his more lucid moments, he kept thinking: “It got me. The virus got me.”

Dr. Piot was relieved when he was discharged. But then came a second wave: He got chills and a form of pneumonia. He thinks his body was hit by a so-called cytokine storm, a side effect for many victims in which the body’s immune system goes into overdrive and attacks more than just the invader.

Prof. Larson tested positive for antibodies, suggesting she was also a victim, but her symptoms were different, too: conjunctivitis and splitting headaches.

Five months on, Dr. Piot is recovering, though he still experiences lingering effects. They both are concerned about long-term consequences yet to be revealed.

“This virus is really diabolical, it came like a thief in the night with an insatiable appetite for victims to devour,” Dr. Piot said. “It behaves unlike any other virus. It spreads through our respiratory system because there are receptors in our noses and throats—but then it goes through your entire body: blood vessels, the heart, every organ could be targeted. It’s crazy.”

They can already tell the virus is evolving.

The four bases of virus RNA are written in an alphabet composed of nucleotide chemicals: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and uracil (U). In its rush to make new copies of itself, the virus is prone to random errors.

“The virus changes on a fairly clockwork basis,” said computational biologist Michael Zody at the genome center. “Every two weeks or so, it seems that the virus picks up a new mutation.”

That adds up to about 25 random changes a year, much less than the seasonal flu, which has a mutation rate of almost 50 mutations a year. Most of the changes in the coronavirus don’t make any difference now.

In time, it is possible that some might make it easier to transmit from person to person or become deadlier. So far, more than 1,200 natural variations in coronavirus strains around the world have been identified.

They called it "diabolical"!

Absolutely cracking article! A must read if you want to inform yourself on the science of the virus. I'll make you this assurance: if you ready this entire article carefully, you'll be well-equipped to have a conversation on the issue with CB. ^_^

One word of advice though in advance: sit back in your chair for 5-10 mins. and do a little meditation. Try and clear your mind from the distractions of your day or any poisonous propagandist ruminations. Approach this article with the innocence and curiosity of a child and you'll be better for it.

Happy reading!

[1972Shocker]

Is this a good thing?

Sounds like it although a good vaccine would be better for Covid. But a compound that has both anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties certainly might be helpful as treatment if and when needed. Then again who know if an when it might be approved for use (emergency, compassionate or otherwise).

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https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/09/coronavirus-another-reason-for-that-mask-youll-get-less-sick/

Coronavirus theory: Does that mask fend off severe illness?

The less virus you get into your body, the less sick you are likely to get, say UCSF experts

The much-publicized rationale behind wearing a face mask is to protect others from your sprayed droplets.

There’s now another good reason: That mask may help you, too.

If you’re accidentally infected through the mask, the face coverings can still reduce your risk of falling seriously ill from COVID-19, according to a theory proposed by Dr. Monica Gandhi and Dr. George Rutherford, infectious disease specialists at UC San Francisco.

“Masks cut down the amount of viral particles flying around — so if you’re infected, you’ll get a lower dose and less severe symptoms,” said Rutherford. Their paper is published in Tuesday’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Studies show that masks may not filter out all droplets — a mask’s filtering capacity is determined by its type — and it’s still possible for the virus to sneak through, but at a lower dose than for someone not wearing a mask at all.

This reduced exposure may influence how sick you get, because the immune system can quell a small number of viral particles before they multiply.

Descriptions of a “dose-mortality curve” – how much of a virus is needed to cause death in an animal – were first published in 1938, according to Gandhi.

During the early days of smallpox epidemics, doctors protected people with the crude practice of “variolation” — inoculating them with material taken from a vesicle of a sick person with smallpox, with the goal of causing only a mild infection and subsequent immunity.

In a flu study, healthy volunteers who received a higher dose of the influenza A virus developed more severe symptoms.

Because the COVID-19 virus is so deadly, it’s unethical to conduct similar experiments in humans. But an animal study was revealing; hamsters who lived in mask-shrouded cages were less likely to be infected – and if they were infected, showed fewer symptoms than unmasked hamsters.

Gandhi and Rutherford also note that in countries where mask wearing was already commonplace or quickly embraced, such as Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and the Czech Republic, rates of severe illness and death have remained comparatively low.

Absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, this area of epidemiological study. Boner-inducing indeed!

"Dose-mortality curve" Brilliant!

Everybody PLEASE read this entire article. And keep wearin' those masks.

Thank you! :)

[Kung Wu]

Meanwhile in Sweden, there is NO NEED for a vaccination. None.

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Meanwhile in Sweden, there is NO NEED for a vaccination. None.

Because of some natural genetic immunity yet to be discovered by science? Because it sure as **** ain't herd immunity. They've had 1-2M infections TOPS out of a population of 10M. Even under the most optimistic herd immunity models, that ain't gonna cut it.

Without the vaccine, they'd have more spikes in the future, book it!

[Kung Wu]

Because of some natural genetic immunity yet to be discovered by science? Because it sure as **** ain't herd immunity.

You sure about that?

Without the vaccine, they'd have more spikes in the future, book it!

When? Both Norway and Finland started surging over a month ago at the beginning of August. You are predicting Sweden will follow? When will we see Sweden spike again, and how bad will it be?

As of right now, Sweden has a total 14 people in their entire country in the ICU. 14. Out of 10,000,000.

[WstateU]

Roll Tide Roll!

“ZERO”

“Zero”