August 1, 2020

Positive results in using favipiravir antiviral against COVID-19

Favipiravir is an antiviral already approved in other countries for RNA type viruses. It’s being studied for effectiveness against COVID-19 and results out of India look good.

https://www.bioworld.com/articles/496293-glenmarks-phase-iii-favipiravir-study-finds-drug-speeds-clinical-improvement-for-some-patients

August 1, 2020

Xofluza (or Tamiflu) for coming flu season--prophylactic use works

A few month ago I wrote about a new “super Tamiflu” antiviral that was approved by FDA last year (has been used in Japan for about 4 years). Xofluxa is the brand name, drug is baloxavir marboxil. CNN just wrote an article about a study which showed this drug can work post- exposure (prophylactically) to help prevent the spread of the flu if you are exposed. Tamiflu can be used in the same way but a lot of doctors won’t prescribe it for prophylactic use, only if you are already sick (and confirmed with a positive flu test.). The article mentions only Type A was included in the study, but since Xofluza works against both Type A and B using same antiviral mechanism it would follow that it would work prophylactically against the B strain as well.

Maybe now they’ll come around and start prescribing flu antivirals to family members if one person in the family tests positive. They should have been doing this all along! But way too much focus was on the flu vaccine as the sole weapon. With the COVID spread it’s clear we need more than one approach.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/01/opinions/flu-covid-health-care-system-overwhelmed-baloxavir-haseltine/index.html

Japan also haS an antiviral “Favipiravir” that is in clinical trials for its effectiveness against COVID.
https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/stanford-favipiravir-covid19-trial/

July 28, 2020

Ugh--our media!! Where is the coverage on Russian bounties?

Why aren’t we hearing more about the bounties Russia paid the Taliban for killing US Soldiers??? No, we’re onto the next distraction. Today’s headline was “Trump wears mask at while touring laboratory.” Seriously???? Why not “Trump flosses teeth after brushing.” Or “Trump washes hands after using urinal.” Dear God.

If I were a family member of one of the soldiers killed by bounty rewarded Taliban I’d be all the more traumatized by the fact that we LEARNED this horrible information about bounties being paid, yet ignored the story for what equates to a gossip rag story.

I’m furious. The media, our Government representatives, our military, and the citizen’s of the United Stars need to demand answers! Don’t let up until we do.

July 17, 2020

21 year old son getting tested today for COVID

My son works part-time at FedEx loading and unloading semi’s. They don’t wear masks while working inside the trucks as it would be almost impossible in the conditions (over 100 degree heat, ridiculous pace expected. Try doing bench press and squats continuously for 5 hours in 100+ heat, only one 10 minute break, and you get the idea). FedEx requires they wear masks in the building break rooms, etc, and there is only one loader per semi truck—so I guess they assume it’s safe. They retrofitted all doors so that you can open with your feet.

Anyway, he started coughing 2 days ago and had a headache and very slight fever (99 degrees but he is usually 97). I started him on Cold Eeze zinc lozenges immediately. Today he feels pretty good. temp 98.3, but since there has been more than one person who tested positive at FedEx they want him to get tested.

I’m not really worried about him (knock on wood), but I just don’t want to get sick or my husband. We bought some HEPA air cleaners and have one running in his room and in ours. The good thing is he’s literally never out of his room when home, even before he started feeling sick. Sleeping or playing online games (he goes back to school in the fall). We’ve also been super careful about making sure everyone in our family wears masks when they go out. Now when he leaves his room for anywhere else in the house he wears a mask and uses hand sanitizer before touching anything.

I’ll keep everyone posted. If, God forbid, he tests positive but we (hopefully) remain negative it will tell me if our precautions worked.

June 25, 2020

Potential Parkinson's breakthrough? Parkinson's reversed in mice

A potentially exciting breakthrough for generating new neurons and completely reversing Parkinson’s...at least in mice. I know that just because something works well in mice doesn’t mean it will act the same in humans, but hopefully this discovery will lead to a cure...one way or another.

https://scitechdaily.com/parkinsons-disease-eliminated-in-mice-by-one-time-genetic-treatment-that-generates-new-neurons/?fbclid=IwAR1fevSOcWaTBDosbclXLHBvSC63_O30xvluPp8eHwb64WpQn7iJT6jYGJs

June 22, 2020

Gilead to begin clinical trials of inhaled version of Remdesivir

Not a cure or a vaccine, but if remdesivir can be administered at home and be shown effective in earlier stages of infection, this gives me some hope. If it can be used prophylactically, even better. For example if someone has been exposed but not yet showing symptoms. Many anti-virals will prevent the virus from infecting a person if given after exposure.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/22/coronavirus-drug-gilead-to-begin-trials-for-the-inhaled-version-of-remdesivir.html

April 23, 2020

Psychiatrist: Trump Supporters think like 5 year olds

I apologize if this video has been posted before, but I just stumbled across it and thought I'd share. It gave me some real insight into why Trump supporters continue to support Trump no matter what. Basically their thought process and the way the view the world is akin to how a normal 5-year old sees the world. It's just that most people develop beyond that.

EDIT: Many are pointing out that the advice given at the end for how to combat Trump seems completely wrong. I absolutely agree! While the explanation from the psychologist re: Trump voters and why they support him no matter what made sense to me, the advice the video maker gave at the end for how to deal with Trump seemed exactly opposite of what needs to be done. Hillary DID give a lot of policy, maybe too much even. You can't combat people who are driven by emotion with "boring" policy. That made zero sense.

April 2, 2020

Is it just me, or are others disturbed reading posts mocking people who died from COVID-19

I’ve seen many posts on a different (progressive) site where they will cite a story about Trump supporters doing something stupid and ending up dying from coronavirus. The comments are brutal, mocking, and almost celebratory. To me they sound like comments Trump supporters would make. If it were just one or two stories that’s one thing, but I’ve seen several now and these types of mocking comments are the rule, not the exception.

One example was the couple in AZ who took fish tank chloroquine and the husband died. I heard an interview of the wife and it was absolutely heart breaking. It was clear this couple was TERRIFIED and wouldn’t venture out of their home (so they weren’t putting anyone else at risk). They believed Trump and were desperate to protect themselves. After her husband’s death the woman was filled with grief and pleaded with people not to believe what Trump or anyone but the doctor’s said. It broke my heart. Yet the overwhelming response from this particular popular liberal site was to laugh and mock about how stupid they were and that’s what they get for believing Trump. To talk about Darwin awards.

I don’t get it. Can’t we at least be human?

March 29, 2020

Results of using antibody plasma on 5 critically ill COVID-19 patients

Some New York hospitals are entering a trial of using COVID-19 antibodies as a treatment for COVID-19. China just published results from a very small trial (5 patients) who were not responding to other treatments. Looks promising. Let’s hope!


https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/hospitals-in-nyc-will-start-testing-therapy-using-plasma-of-those-infected/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2763983

EDIT: Below is a fascinating article that describes the different targets of attack for halting coronavirus inside the body. It explains why certain therapies appear to show some promise.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/covid-19-the-biology-of-an-effective-therapy/

March 25, 2020

UPDATE on COVID-19 co-worker---he had to call 911

Last Wednesday I posted about a co-worker who had tested positive for COVID-19. In my post I had listed his symptoms and stated that he felt a bit better. Well, I just learned today that he crashed about 6 days in and had to call 911. He was having severe breathing issues. (My original post: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213123558)

I also have friend whose wife tested positive about 6 days ago. She is under 50, in great health, works as a radiologist. He told me she hasn't had to call in sick in over 20 years. She was dealing with the virus pretty well until Sunday night when she started having severe breathing problems. He said in all his years of dealing with illness in himself, wife, and kids he has never been so scared. They were minutes away from calling 911 but her symptoms eventually subsided to the point that she felt it wasn't necessary. Then again last night she had another breathing attack, but not as severe. She seems to be on the mend now, but still can't take more than 20 steps without feeling exhausted. They are thinking it will be another week before she can go back to work.

My friend has been exposed to his wife for days before she knew she was sick and has been taking care of her now that she is sick (with as many precaustions as possible). So far he is feeling fine. He was tested before his wife got sick as he was exposed at work. He still hasn't gotten his test results back as they are totally backed up.

I don't want to scare anyone, I think there is enough news out there to scare us all and then some. But I also wanted to pass this information on.

Finally, there are a lot of articles out there about Zinc helping to curb the effects of coronavirus. The jury is still out on whether or not it will have an effect, it's too early to tell. If you do take Zinc, do NOT take a formula that includes vitamin C. Apparently Vitamin C can neutralize the impact of the zinc ions in fighting the RNA virus. There is a scientific study on this that I was reading through but didn't understand a word. Below is a video that is a "RNA virus for dummies" type explanation. They talk about the Zinc study towards the middle of the video.