Free Republic

President Donald J. Trump was sicker with Covid-19 in October than publicly acknowledged at the time, with extremely depressed blood oxygen levels at one point and a lung problem associated with pneumonia caused by the coronavirus, according to four people familiar with his condition. His prognosis became so worrisome before he was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that officials believed he would need to be put on a ventilator, two of the people familiar with his condition said. The people familiar with Mr. Trump’s health said he was found to have lung infiltrates, which occur when the...

Any Predictions on when all of the MASK STUPIDNESS will be done?

..... Paul Vallone, who represents northeast Queens, took the drug along with a standard Z-pack, given for bacterial infections, "and came back from the brink almost immediately."

Is there any place I can obtain hydroxcloroquine and a Zpack? My dr refuses to use it and i am fearful that I may fall ill and not be able to obtain it. Any ideas?

I quickly learned that many patients with advanced COVID-19 disease bore none of the hallmarks of severe respiratory illness until they suddenly collapsed and died. ... [A] study from Wuhan, China, describes pathological lung changes on CT scans of completely asymptomatic patients. Asymptomatic carriage is not uncommon in other virulent infections, such as MRSA and C diff, but what is striking with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) is that it may be accompanied by underlying organ damage. The researchers found lesions consistent with inflammation of the underlying lung tissue (ground-glass opacities and consolidation, to use the medical jargon), which...

In a prime example of why President Trump shouldn’t be endorsing any unproven potential treatments for the novel coronavirus behind the current global pandemic, a new small-scale study by researchers in China indicates that the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine actually isn’t any more effective than standard, existing best practice for conventional care of patients with the virus. The study, which included 30 patients with a control of 15 who received no treatment, with the other half being treated with hydroxychloroquine, showed that there was a statistically insignificant difference in the number of patients who tested negative for the drug after a...

With no antibodies built up in the population, no known cure, and no existing vaccine against COVID-19, some may fear that there's no hope for those suffering with the disease now or in the future. However, there have actually been green shoots of positive results from several existing anti-viral and anti-inflammatory drugs already on the market, albeit on an anecdotal basis.While no official U.S. trials have been completed and data is scarce, anecdotal successes with these drugs are giving people hope, and the government is now loosening red tape to get them where needed as fast as possible. Here are...

“I’ve got bronchitis and my doctor gave me a Z-Pak.” I hear this from friends, from family members, and from my patient who went to the urgent care over the weekend. I smile and don’t say what I am really thinking: Bronchitis: noun - inflammation of the mucous membrane in the bronchial tubes. It typically causes bronchospasm and coughing Translation: a loose cough. This is one of the most common tricks we use as doctors: stating the obvious using a Latin or Greek word to describe the symptoms and call it the diagnosis. The suffix -itis refers to inflammation. Dermatitis...

South-central Pennsylvania has been clobbered by a nasty cold, flu, or combination thereof for all of this brief new year. So much so that the state is listed as "widespread" on the flu map published by the Weather Channel. I get that. What I don't get is why it took my adult son nearly twelve hours to obtain a Z-pack. He did the responsible thing by calling his primary physician (a truly unmercenary practitioner, who works solo and sees many of the poor who others shun) early this morning...around 10 AM. The overworked physicians office--I did say this flu thing...