Posted on 10/23/2020 6:24:14 AM PDT by Eleutheria5
The immune system is usually seen as our ally in fighting disease, but in the case of coronavirus, it can sometimes turn into our foe. A phenomenon known as a cytokine storm has been implicated in many fatal cases of Covid-19, and several drugs are currently being tested to calm this storm and raise patients chances of survival.
These drugs are known as anti-C5 drugs as they prevent a molecule named C5 from triggering the complement system to produce cytokines, which are known to cause inflammation in the body. Over-activation of cytokines (also known as a cytokine storm) has also been associated with many other diseases such as asthma, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease.
As noted, several drugs are already being tested for use in serious cases of coronavirus, in hospitals in the United Kingdom and the United States. Trials are ongoing, but the drugs are already showing promise. One that looks especially encouraging is ravulizumab, which is already in use for treatment of certain rare blood diseases.
At a briefing on treatment of coronavirus in the UK on Thursday, reported on by The Telegraph, Professor Paul Morgan of Cardiff University told those assembled that: Switching off C5 can have a big effect. We and others have used anti-C5 blocking agents in small scales on very severe Covid patients with very promising results. These were people who had reached the stage where there was no further therapy for them; they were on ventilators, and really at deaths door [some] have made startling recoveries. Of course these are small numbers, but these drugs are now in large-scale clinical trials, and we want to see the outcomes of those in the not-too-distant future.
.... Perhaps people should be becoming better educated on which medical protocols hospitals are using...
(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
With a name like ravulizumab, it has to be good.
Good news.
So the IL7 and 8 have done nothing. If the IL5 is better then this is good news. However. -mabs are ungodly expensive.
Bring Out Your Dead
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the Bring Out Your Dead ping list (formerly the Ebola ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
The false positive rate was 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the Bring Out Your Dead threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
Quarantine the sick. Protect the vulnerable. Free everyone else.
LOL
I have a suspicion that Vitamin D might be useful to reduce the danger of Covid.
Northern England and people of color in temperate areas have a reduced ability to produce Vitamin D.
Exactly! Open EVERYTHING up. End ALL lockdowns. End ALL mask mandates. If you WANT to wear a mask, knock yourself out. Continue to promote common-sense procedures like washing your hands. Ignore the fear-mongering press, government, and health care systems. End the 'national emergency' so all financial incentives come to a screeching halt. Coronavirus isn't going anywhere; like the flu or the common cold.
The Chinese vaccines look promising:
(Spanish language article)
http://www.radiohc.cu/noticias/salud/237396-no-ha-habido-efectos-adversos-en-vacunas-chinas-contra-la-covid-19
Hospitals in Paris, Liverpool and parts of the American Midwest are under great Covid patient load stress.
The brother of the Mayor of Liverpool died of Covid.
At this point, Covid is several times more dangerous than the flu.
As of last week, there were only 50,000 doses of the medicine Trump got available.
So? NO reason for me (or any other American) to wear a mask.
How old was this brother (of the Mayor of Liverpool)?
Did he have any underlying health issues? Was he treated EARLY?
And older people too. The link to Covid severity is now well established.
Port this over the arthritis and that’ll make many celebrate.
Under the C, five.
Bingo!
Because it still is being tested.
Trump, a president, was a guinea pig.
It could have gone badly.
Covid patients at 'death's door' recovering with immune system drugs, scientists say by Sarah Knapton, Science Editor, October 22, 2020, The Telegraph.
This article makes a good point that should be obvious given how co-morbidities negatively affect outcomes of COVID:
Professor Sir Stephen O'Rahilly, the director of the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit at the University of Cambridge, also said people could help themselves by losing weight.Sir Stephen, who caught coronavirus in the spring, believes he only survived because he had lost 13 pounds in the preceding months and said: "Even a small amount of weight loss can be beneficial. Walk a mile, lose a pound. Even a modest degree of calorific restriction in a matter of days can start to shift fat in the organs even before body weight reduces.
The Telegraph article further links to this one (getting further afield from Ravulizumab):
Experts reveal how to optimise heat and humidity to reduce Covid transmission inside the home by Sarah Newey, Oct 22, 2020, The Telegraph.
That article cites this preprint: Theffect of temperature and humidity on the stability1of SARS-CoV-2 and other enveloped viruses in bioRxiv, October 16, 2020 which states "As mucus gets drier, it becomes worse at trapping infections in our airways." Relative humidity drops very low in heated buildings in winter.
So, lose weight, take your Vit D, keep your house warm, humidify your house, and keep informed about Ravulizumab. I read recently about beneficial effects nasal irrigation which would support this environmental effects article.
" The immune system is usually seen as our ally in fighting disease, but in the case of coronavirus, it can sometimes turn into our foe.
A phenomenon known as a cytokine storm has been implicated in many fatal cases of Covid-19,
and several drugs are currently being tested to calm this storm and raise patients chances of survival."
" These drugs are known as anti-C5 drugs as they prevent a molecule named C5 from triggering the complement system to produce cytokines,
which are known to cause inflammation in the body.
Over-activation of cytokines (also known as a cytokine storm) has also been associated with many other diseases
such as asthma, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease. "
Exactly.
This virus could be with us in some degree or another for a thousand more years, or 10,000, or even longer. Just like influenza and many other viruses which are still here.
We can’t shut down the country forever. We’ll destroy ourselves, literally.
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