High-dose, IV vit C was used in China and many docs around the country, including NY, are using this bc they’re seeing such low levels of vit C in their patients d/t high levels of oxidative stress. Zinc inhibits RNA Dependent RNA Polymerase Activity of many viruses. HCQ is a Zinc Ionophore that acts as a transport to get the Zinc into the cell’s cytoplasm to stop Rd Rdp activity. Lots of studies linking low levels of vit D to morbidity/mortality in cancer patients and they’re seeing the same low levels in many CV 19 patients, especially in the elderly.
Dr. Seheult, from MedCram, was citing info on one of his most recent vids re: melatonin. There are several trials studying melatonin including this one listed on the ** NIH website ** - https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04353128
studying melatonin as a prophylaxis in HCWs.
“Melatonin, an endogenous hormone involved in circadian rhythm control, is an inexpensive and safe product that has shown protective effects in bacterial and viral infections likely due to its ** anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects.” **
“The investigators hypothesize that elevating peak melatonin levels to a range similar to that of children by administering 2 mg of melatonin daily might prevent the infection with SARS-CoV 2 among exposed healthcare workers. The investigators also hypothesize that among those who develop the disease melatonin might prevent the more severe forms.”
The basic summary, consistent with other articles or opinions on the topic (e.g. Atul Gawande’s writing) is that home made cloth masks are more for the protection of others than the wearer (Gawande states that surgical masks are better overall, but still have the characteristic of protecting others better than the wearer; N95 masks without valves protect both others and the wearer, while N95 masks with one-way valves protect the wearer but not others).
In other words, it is somewhat of an altruistic / caring-for-others type of action to wear a home made cloth mask or other mask that protects others better than the wearer. Some people may not be altruistic / caring-for-others and therefore may be resistant to wearing one (or may choose an N95 mask with a one-way valve that protects the wearer but not others).
The page in The Conversation also has a photo that plays into racial/ethnic stereotypes, showing two apparently-east-Asian people with masks in the same scene as three apparently-white people without masks. To the extent that mask wearing is racially/ethnically associated, that may also have an influence on some people’s decisions to wear or not wear masks based on their membership in or pre-existing opinions or stereotypes about various racial/ethnic groups (particularly east Asian ones).
Here’s another interesting study I found on the NIH website re: IV vit C.
“Recent studies have shown the efficacy of vitamin C and thiamine administration in patients hospitalized for sepsis in the setting of intensive wards in terms of mortality reduction. The use of intravenously vitamin C arises from the experimental evidence of its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Vitamin C causes a greater proliferation of natural killers without affecting their functionality. Moreover, the vitamin C reduces the production of ROS (reactive oxygen species) that contribute to the activation of the inflammosomi and, in particular, the NLRP3 that affetcs the maturation and secretion of cytokines such as IL1beta and IL-18 that are involved in the inflammatory systemic syndrome that characterized sepsis. Vitamin C blocks the expression of ICAM-1 and activation of NFKappaB that are involved in inflammatory, neoplastic, and apoptotic processes by the inhibition of TNFalfa.
For this reason, the use of vitamin C could be effective in terms of mortality and secondary outcomes in the cohort of patients with covid-19 pneumonia.”
If I didn’t care about protecting others, but I did believe that other people wearing masks would protect me, I might prefer a mask-wearing equilibrium to a non-mask-wearing equilibrium. I might think, I’ll wear this uncomfortable mask as long as other people wear theirs. Even though (if I didn’t care about protecting anyone else) I’d prefer everyone else wearing masks and me not.
Well, actually the selfish (non-altruistic) approach would be to acquire genuine N95 masks, or at least surgical masks, for oneself … while hoping that everyone else will be wearing cloth masks.
Is this more proof that antibodies will protect people, at least for a certain amount of time? The vaccine hopes are all based on the fact that antibodies protect you from getting it, but they haven’t even confirmed that prior covid patients are immune. Does the plasma basically give you the antibodies?
On TWIV, cautions have been raised about plasma due to the large amount of clotting factors present in the plasma & the hypercoagulation seen in some C19 patients.
The antibodies are what vanquishes the virus. Yes, the plasma is given because it contains those antibodies.
Where we fall off in knowledge is how long those antibodies hang around in the system after recovery, and how long those antibodies present in the system provide immunity from future exposures.
Will they only know the answer to these questions once we have a large group of people getting truly reinfected or is there another way to find out? Perhaps they are doing studies on mice and monkeys.
I haven’t gotten around to reading much on the plasma treatments, but I assume that plasma includes IgG (or some other form of antibodies). This obviates the need to identify the precise antibody that helps. Generally, donor IgG has a half-life in the body of about three weeks, and presumably would slow down/help heal the infection long enough for the recipient’s immune system to get a handle on it (as is the case with most treatments!). So, with regard to future immunity, the patient would develop that by the action of its own immune system, not directly from the treatment. However, if there is something else in the plasma that’s helping, like T cells, then the mechanism might be different (stimulating recipient to produce their own Ig? no idea if that’s possible and over my head at the moment).
Probably plasma is much easier to process than IVIg, which is more high-tech but safer (lots of experience with IVIg in my house).
Sure wish we had a member who was an immunologist here.
Another question would be does a person whose own immune system triumphed over this virus have a stronger future immunity than a patient who received convalescent plasma and didn’t have to make their own antibodies? I have no idea.
Got a text from D1 this morning. She just got off her weekly update conference called w/ the CDC. The first human trial results of the COVID-19 RNA vaccine are extremely promising. The participants developed no adverse reactions other than redness & swelling at the injection site, but more importantly all developed antibodies to the coronavirus, sometimes at a higher level than known recovered COVID-19 patients.
So very good news!
However, the test sample group was extremely small and was non-representative of the larger population.
Also this doesn’t answer the question of whether antibodies actually provide immunity, permanent or temporary, or how long the antibodies persist in the human body.
This might have been already mentioned here, but just in case, here’s a great blog about the latest in COVID-19 research: https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/ In particular, he goes into the details on the Oxford and Moderna vaccines.
That suggests that some other virus or something (rubella and BCG vaccine have been speculated by others) has some similarity to SARS-CoV-2 in terms of immune response. It may also have something to do with why some people have minimal to no effects.
The stock options in Moderna held by Trump’s newly appointed ‘vaccine czar’ Moncef Slaoui increased in value by $3M today from Moderna’s positive vaccine news.
