The Best Hopes for a new Coronavirus Drug

[jacqueg]

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/04/what-coronavirus-drug-will-look-like/609661/

Informative and interesting article that discusses the various ways the virus might be attacked.

If there is a silver lining in this black cloud, it's that suddenly everyone is very motivated to fund a lot of interesting research. Whatever else comes out of this, I have great hopes that it will open new approaches to fighting viral diseases in general, not just corona viruses.

 

[crofter]

Good nutrition and vitamin supplements  for A, C, E, D. 

-crofter

 

[maki2]

no need for supplementss if you have good nutrition!

 

[GypsyJan]

My biologist daughter emailed me a month ago to get elderberry immune suppliments. I got the ***** version....cute little guys, shaped like rasberries. She said it was the only thing known to help against covid-19. I take one a day unless I have symptoms, then I chew 3. I have had a runny nose and another day , a sore throat and woke up without either after using the suppliment...probably just a coincidence, but it reaffirmed the use for me. Mine has zinc and vitamin c added, too.

 

[maki2]

Runny nose, sore throat.... very common this time of year in reaction to things coming into bloom. It will get improved in a few weeks time without any intervention by mother natures natural cycle of life.

 

[1shemp]

I totally agree about the elderberry supplements.I have been supplementing with elderberry wine for years.

 

[jacqueg]

Here's a good summary of the current status of various drug and vaccine tests - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lifeline-idUSKCN21V1YR

Take-away - the soonest we'll see results from these is 2-3 months. And keep in mind, these are preliminary tests, to determine which, if any, of these show enough promise for large-scale testing.

I'm sure that many of these will be available on an experimental basis if these preliminary tests show sufficient promise. But anyone who decides to take one will be taking a drug that does not have the level of surety that we are used to having. That's not a reason to not take one, just a reason to not fasten on one or another as THE remedy.

Stay hunkered down, folks. And plan to stay that way for a while. We KNOW that distancing and hand washing works. So keep on doing it to the extent that you are able.

 

[WanderingRose]

Have you watched “Pandemic” on Netflix?

It is a documentary made in 2019, about researchers working on a broad spectrum vaccine.

They absolutely predicted the virus and pandemic we are dealing with right now, and that it would likely come from bats. 

Bill Gates is funding a huge part of their research.

It is a limited series, not that long, but excellent, in my opinion.

 

[crofter]

......elderberry immune suppliments....

I am using these also. 

I can't imagine living without supplements. I no longer have the youthful vitality and supplements help in many ways, plus following the advice of a naturopathic guru.

@maki
OK for you to avoid vitamins and supplements, leaves more for me.

-crofter

 

[1shemp]

I don't think people should be so stressed.There have always been viruses,bacterium and germs trying to kill us.This is a rather mild virus that has a small amount of death attributed to it.The bubonic plague and the Spanish flue had a much higher rate of fatality.We have become so detached from nature that we think we are not a part of the evolution of life.Other life forms,such as viruses, are evolving to reproduce and survive just as humans are.Perpetuation of the species is not just a human trait.Ultimately ,all life will perish when the end of our planet comes.Of course,none of us will live to see it.

 

[crofter]

I had a boss who said it was good to be sick, because that meant you were getting immunity from another virus.

Those in the know think the risk of ARDS is too high for that kind of thinking with this virus. Either way, we seem to have a low incidence here in the desert.
-crofter

 

[maki2]

I don't think people should be so stressed.There have always been viruses,bacterium and germs trying to kill us.This is a rather mild virus that has a small amount of death attributed to it.The bubonic plague and the Spanish flue had a much higher rate of fatality.We have become so detached from nature that we think we are not a part of the evolution of life.Other life forms,such as viruses, are evolving to reproduce and survive just as humans are.Perpetuation of the species is not just a human trait.Ultimately ,all life will perish when the end of our planet comes.Of course,none of us will live to see it.

The USA will top out to over 50k deaths  this coming week from that rather mild virus. But there are even more deaths on the way in the weeks to come as some areas in the USA have not hit their peak date of infection rates. The majority of those deaths listed in the USA were from the last 4 weeks with new deaths still happening everyday.

But lets take a closer look at your comparisons of the Plague and the Spanish Flu. It is very easy to say such things when you neglect to factor in the progress in medicine since that time. So lets take a close look at this compared to our more medically enabled age in 2020.

First up is the Spanish Flu of 1918.

Quoted below from the CDC control studies that were done to recreate the Spanish Flu virus and then test it in modern laboratory studies.  https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/reconstruction-1918-virus.html#reconstruction

"Besides the properties of the virus itself, many additional factors contributed to the virulence of the 1918 pandemic. In 1918, the world was still engaged in World War I. Movement and mobilization of troops placed large numbers of people in close contact and living spaces were overcrowded. Health services were limited, and up to 30% of U.S. physicians were deployed to military service.3
In addition, medical technology and countermeasures at the time were limited or non-existent. No diagnostic tests existed at the time that could test for influenza infection. In fact, doctors didn’t know influenza viruses existed. Many health experts at the time thought the 1918 pandemic was caused by a bacterium called “Pfeiffer’s bacillus,” which is now known as Haemophilus influenzae.
Influenza vaccines did not exist at the time, and even antibiotics had not been developed yet. For example, penicillin was not discovered until 1928. Likewise, no flu antiviral drugs were available. Critical care measures, such as intensive care support and mechanical ventilation also were not available in 1918.  Without these medical countermeasures and treatment capabilities, doctors were left with few treatment options other than supportive care.3
In terms of national, state and local pandemic planning, no coordinated pandemic plans existed in 1918. Some cities managed to implement community mitigation measures, such as closing schools, banning public gatherings, and issuing isolation or quarantine orders, but the federal government had no centralized role in helping to plan or initiate these interventions during the 1918 pandemic."


Now lets take a look at the Plague which was not a virus, it was a bacterium. Perhaps you did not realize that at the present time there are still outbreaks of it in the USA and in other countries. Remember it is not a virus, it did not die out, it is a bacterial infection. It first arrived by ship in San Francisco in 1900. There were local outbreaks of it after that initial arrival time but when the era of antibiotics arrived they became treatable and therefore controllable. It is not truly difficult issue to deal with it today because we now have antibiotics to treat it. It does still exist and people do still get it but it never reaches the stage of being an epidemic now because a person with it can be diagnosed and it can be treated. People of course do still get quarantined for it when there is an outbreak. But another factor is that by the time the person who has it becomes infectious they are already so sick they are bedridden so they are not out there in the community running around going to meetings and events. So it is a very different situation than Covid 19. Much easier to keep it from becoming a widespread epidemic.

So please don't keep on comparing what happened a hundred years ago and a medical situation from centuries ago with what is going on today.  All it does is show that you did not any background study on the history of those diseases and their treatments before you published an opinion on the subject.

 

[DannyB1954]

I used to think that you could get good nutrition from diet, but the food today is not the same as even 50 years ago. The soil gets depleted from a lot of minerals. If it isn't in the soil, it isn't in the plant. I also take D3, C, B complex, magnesium and zinc. I hear synthetic Vitamin E is actually bad for you.

After I had a heart attack I read an article that said the further North you go, (in the Northern hemisphere), the more heart problems there are because of a lack of Vitamin D. I had my blood tested and it was real low. Most people in the USA are deficient in Vitamin D. We are taught that the sun is bad for us, so we stay inside or put on protection from the sun. Your body needs Vitamin D for the immune system to function properly. Maybe this is why older people get sicker. We stay out of the sun. Young people are out doing stuff, (in the sun).

 

[maki2]

I live in Seattle, I am 70, I don't see all that much sun from October thru April. My blood test does not show a Vitamin D deficiency. But perhaps that has to do with a diet that has a fair amount of dairy in it. Many of the dairy products such as milk and also a lot of breads are fortified with vitamin D.

You only need 10 to 30 minutes of midday sun several times a week (without sunscreen) if you have a vitamin D3 deficiency.

Of course if you are a dog owner who does not have a backyard your vitamin D3 issues will be solved by having to go out and walk your dog several times a day.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

 . . . So lets take a close look at this compared to our more medically enabled age in 2020.

First up is the Spanish Flu of 1918.
 . . .
Critical care measures, such as intensive care support and mechanical ventilation also were not available in 1918.  Without these medical countermeasures and treatment capabilities, doctors were left with few treatment options other than supportive care.3

Are you implying that there are 'effective medical countermeasures and treatments' available?  All we have is supportive care right now (which is what ventilation is).

  . . . but the federal government had no centralized role in helping to plan or initiate these interventions during the 1918 pandemic."

The constitution leaves public health to the states.  All the feds can do is advise and offer support.

I don't get your point.  This thread is about recovery after a disaster is past.  We have had millennia of wars and pestilence to study on how different social structures recover after disaster.  That is what the Spanish Flu and others are instructive about (in this context).

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Sorry, I misposted this.  I had just read the other one a what happens after.

 

[jacqueg]

Here's more about possible drug treatments - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.16.044016v1

Researchers evaluated about 30 drugs known to interfere with viral replication and found six candidates for further investigation. Looks promising.

 

[1shemp]

This is a strange virus.Some who get it have little or no symptoms.Others die within 24 hrs.I saw this morning that only 1 out of 10 people who require a ventilator survive.It will be very hard to develop a vaccine that will treat all of the mutations of the virus.I think I will keep practicing the social distancing thing.Hope all of you stay safe.

 

[Qxxx]

I posted this link on another thread. A lot of different therapies are being tested. I also heard on NPR a few days ago, a researcher who said their lab was testing 1,000 different existing drugs to see if any could be repurposed for corona.

https://www.genengnews.com/a-lists/...9-drug-and-vaccine-candidates-in-development/

 

[jacqueg]

I'm sure that one or more drugs will be found that will at least help, and will reduce mortality when used at the right stage. Not so sure that a genuine cure will ever be found. Viruses are very tricky.