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An international clinical trial has identified a medication that can help prevent symptomatic COVID-19 in people exposed within households. The results could be particularly important for families where someone is at high risk of serious complications from the illness. The drug, ensitrelvir, is already approved in Japan to treat mild to moderate COVID cases. The SCORPIO-PEP trial, however, has demonstrated that it also has the potential to protect against illness. Uninfected people who began taking the antiviral within 72 hours of symptoms first appearing in a household member were significantly less likely to contract COVID-19 than people who were given...

Over 600 service members died suddenly after being given the drug Remdesivir by doctors despite it not being approved by the FDA to fight COVID-19. A military whistleblower leaked explosive documents from the Department of Defense Joint Trauma System, revealing that the deadly drugs were administered “liberally” to service members regardless of its official FDA approval. The whistleblower, who chose to remain anonymous under the pseudonym Daniel LeMay, first gave the documents over to journalist J.M. Phelps.

Researchers found that metformin, a drug commonly used to treat diabetes, can decrease the amount of COVID-19 virus in the body and lower the chances of the virus coming back strongly after initial treatment. A higher viral load—the amount of virus in a person's body—usually indicates a greater concentration of the virus, which can be important in understanding the severity of infection and monitoring the effectiveness of treatments. "The results of the study are important because COVID-19 continues to cause illness, both during acute infection and for months after infection," said Carolyn Bramante, MD. In this phase 3 randomized clinical...

I urgently prompted my Dr. for more than 1 year for prevention and treatment protocols for possibly imminent, high lethality viruses. She's a good Dr. but her training gets in the way of giving a straight answer. The following very simple elements use 1) an inexpensive Dr. Z. protocol, 2) saline and very dilute hydrogen peroxide administered via home nebulizer, and 3) low-dose lithium from Dr. Michael Nehls. The protocol of the late Dr. Zev Zelenko, with which he suffered only 1 demise among 7,000 patients, uses Vitamin D, zinc, quercetin to substitute for hydroxychloroquine (generally unavailable because prescription only)...

Something as simple as gargling with salt water when you have COVID may help keep you out of the hospital Researchers found that gargling and rinsing nasal passages with salt water cut the chances of hospitalization dramatically

"FDA can inform, but it has identified no authority allowing it to recommend consumers 'stop' taking medicine," the ruling reads. A federal court ruled on Friday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) likely abused its authority when it used anti-ivermectin messaging to get Americans to not use it to treat COVID-19. "FDA can inform, but it has identified no authority allowing it to recommend consumers 'stop' taking medicine," U.S. Circuit Judge Don Willett wrote in the ruling, according to The Epoch Times. The ruling was sent back to the lower court where it will be reconsidered. “FDA is...

In the midst of a legal appeal by three doctors (Paul Marik of Virginia, Mary Bowden of Texas, and Robert Apter of Arizona) claiming FDA interference in their medical practice being disciplined for prescribing ivermectin to their patients for COVID-19, a DoJ lawyer representing the FDA admitted in court on August 11 that a doctor can prescribe ivermectin for COVID and always could. The judge even asked questions about the meaning of the word "stop" in the FDA's (in)famous tweet: "You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it." In this context, the issue of...

An anti-inflammatory drug commonly used to treat gout could significantly improve outcomes in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 infections, according to research by a team led by Ralph Tripp. In a dose-range study of probenecid, researchers showed significant improvements both in preventing the transmission of COVID-19 and the speed at which symptoms cleared in patients. In comparison to other FDA-approved drugs used to treat the virus, probenecid helped clear symptoms several days faster, Tripp said. "This is a significant development," said Tripp. "It shows improvement in both virus clearance and symptom reduction." TrippBio enrolled 75 non-hospitalized patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19. The...

High-dose anticoagulation can reduce deaths by 30 percent and intubations by 25 percent in hospitalized COVID-19 patients who are not critically ill when compared to the standard treatment, which is low-dose anticoagulation. These are the significant findings from the large-scale international "FREEDOM" trial, led by Valentin Fuster, MD, Ph.D. Patients were not in the ICU or intubated, and approximately half of them had signs of COVID-19 impacting their lungs with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Patients were randomized to receive doses of three different types of anticoagulants within 24-48 hours of being admitted to the hospital and followed for 30...

Covid finally got me. I'm in my 60s and never received the jab. I felt lousy the first 24 hours but feel pretty good now. I live on aspirin to keep the fever down, my dry cough is breaking up, and I can breathe OK. Any other suggestions anyone can give me would be appreciated because I still am a little frightened. I knew someone unjabbed who got it, felt great then died! Also, what are your thoughts on Paxlovid?

Emory University graduate student Caitlin Risener, first author of the study, gathers tall goldenrod in South Georgia. The study, which was first major screening of botanical extracts to search for potency against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, found that two common wild plants contain extracts that inhibit the ability of the virus that causes COVID-19 to infect living cells. Credit: Photo by Tharanga Samarakoon The first major screening of botanical extracts to search for potency against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Two common wild plants contain extracts that inhibit the ability of the virus that causes COVID-19 to infect living cells, an Emory...

It's time for tea: More than 30 research papers published between 2000 and 2022 have confirmed that a chemical component found in green tea can help fight various types of coronaviruses, including variants of COVID-19. A trio of scientists including Manikarna Dinda compiled the takeaways in a review article published this month. The goal of the collaborative report was to pave the way for tea's translation into antiviral medications. The chemical compound found in green tea—epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG for short—has been of interest to medical researchers for many years. Now, the interest has grown. "Recently, EGCG's strong antiviral activity...

A study reports the discovery of a compound efficient in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 that could be broadly applied to treat different variants of the virus. The researchers discovered that the compound piperlongumine (PL), extracted from the long pepper, the natural ingredient used most extensively in Indian medical systems, has a potent antiviral effect in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 in mice. "We found that PL delays disease progression and reduces lung inflammation in a mouse model mimicking SARS-CoV-2 infection," says Gonçalo Bernardes. "The action of this compound in the organism, which was previously studied in the treatment of cancer, is...

Scientists have identified an off-patent drug that can be repurposed to prevent COVID-19—and may be capable of protecting against future variants of the virus—in research involving a unique mix of "mini-organs," donor organs, animal studies and patients. The research showed that an existing drug used to treat a type of liver disease is able to "lock" the doorway by which SARS-CoV-2 enters our cells, a receptor on the cell surface known as ACE2. Because this drug targets the host cells and not the virus, it should protect against future new variants of the virus as well as other coronaviruses that...

Brief Summary: The CDC and WHO have deemed the COVID-19 virus a global pandemic of unprecedented severity in modern times. In 2019, this novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged from the Asian continent and has now caused upwards of 1million deaths and over 6 million infections globally. Currently, the estimated global economic impact is over 5 Trillion dollars. Understanding the host response to pathogens, specifically the cellular and humoral responses, has played an important role in new non-antibiotic therapies. Bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) has a potential role in the clearance and/or recurrence of enteric viral infections.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is an airborne disease transmitted via aerosols, which are spread from the oral and nasal cavities—the mouth and the nose. In addition to the well-known division and spread of the virus in the cells of the respiratory tract, SARS-CoV-2 is also known to infect the cells of the lining of the mouth and the salivary glands. Commercially available mouthwashes contain a number of antibiotic and antiviral components that act against microorganisms in the mouth. One of these, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), has been shown by a team of researchers led by Professor Kyoko Hida to...

Two Covid-19 antibody therapies are no longer recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), as Omicron and the variant's latest offshoots have likely rendered them obsolete. The two therapies - which are designed to work by binding to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 to neutralise the virus' ability to infect cells - were some of the first medicines developed early in the pandemic. The virus has since evolved, and mounting evidence from lab tests suggests the two therapies - sotrovimab, as well as casirivimab-imdevimab - have limited clinical activity against the latest iterations of the virus.

[H/T grey_whiskers]MORE AT LINK: WTAF?! (Yes, I missed this one) in [Market-Ticker-Nad]

Biomedical informatics researchers have found that patients hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia had a 13.5% survival advantage when treated with a combination of leukotriene inhibitors (LTIs) and the steroid dexamethasone. The study shows that patients with low oxygen saturations who are treated with leukotriene inhibitors in addition to dexamethasone have a 13.5% inpatient survival advantage in COVID 19 infection. Patients on LTIs prior to hospitalization who were continued on their LTI had a 22% survival advantage. …"This represents a new treatment with very strong results and when implemented, should save lives broadly," said Elkin. The 13.5% survival advantage was found in...

Antiviral Nasal Spray A single inhaled dose treated or even prevented infection by COVID-19 and its variants. Current antibody treatments block SARS-CoV-2 by binding to one of three binding sites on the spike protein New antiviral binds to all three sites on the spike protein, making it more effective than current therapies Antiviral is also low-cost, easy to manufacture, does not require complicated supply chains with extreme refrigeration and potentially could be self-administered A new protein-based antiviral nasal spray developed by researchers at Northwestern University, University of Washington and Washington University at St. Louis is being advanced toward Phase I...