Covid-19 News

Infectious Disease Expert Warns Next Coronavirus Surge Will Hit Younger People, Too

Michael Osterholm predicted "tough days ahead" for younger and older people alike as coronavirus variants surge.

https://news.google.com/articl…=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

Infectious diseases expert Michael Osterholm is warning Americans not to let down their guard even as coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to drop.

“Let me just say we are in the eye of the hurricane right now,” Osterholm said on “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “It appears that things are going very well. We even see blue skies.”

But, Osterholm said the more infectious B.1.1.7. variant from the U.K. is surging beneath the surface. Responsible for just 1 to 4 percent of U.S. cases a month ago, the variant has now grown to 30 to 40 percent of cases.

“And we’ve seen in Europe when we hit that 50 percent mark, you’ll see cases surge,” Osterholm, who is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said.

Osterholm also said the new variant was even spreading among younger populations ― just as schools in many areas are reopening ― and referenced an outbreak in high school sports in his home state of Minnesota last week.

“We’re going to have some tough days ahead in the older population and in the younger population with this new variant virus,” he said.

Osterholm lauded the pace of the country’s vaccination effort, but warned that the numbers so far and the vaccine supply expected in the coming weeks were “not going to really take care of the problem at all.”

last night on 60 minutes

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/ne…nt-60-minutes-2021-03-07/

The race to find vaccines for COVID-19 has dominated the headlines, but there's been less news about how to keep people with COVID out of the hospital. Tonight, we're going to tell you a story about one possible treatment. It's called fluvoxamine. The generic drug was developed 40 years ago as an antidepressant and has been primarily used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder. Now, a small but ingenious clinical trial and a series of coincidences have led scientists to look closely at fluvoxamine as a possible tool to keep newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients from becoming severely ill. So how did a pill that costs 60 cents become a dark horse to treat COVID? We went to a place that knows all about long shots to find out.

Fluvoxamine vs Placebo and Clinical Deterioration in Outpatients

With Symptomatic COVID-19

A Randomized Clinical Trial

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2773108

IMPORTANCE Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may lead to serious illness as a result of

an excessive immune response. Fluvoxamine may prevent clinical deterioration by

stimulating the σ-1 receptor, which regulates cytokine production.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether fluvoxamine, given during mild COVID-19 illness, prevents

clinical deterioration and decreases the severity of disease.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Double-blind, randomized, fully remote (contactless)

clinical trial of fluvoxamine vs placebo. Participants were community-living, nonhospitalized

adults with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, with

COVID-19 symptom onset within 7 days and oxygen saturation of 92% or greater. One

hundred fifty-two participants were enrolled from the St Louis metropolitan area (Missouri

and Illinois) from April 10, 2020, to August 5, 2020. The final date of follow-up was

September 19, 2020.

INTERVENTIONS Participants were randomly assigned to receive 100 mg of fluvoxamine

(n = 80) or placebo (n = 72) 3 times daily for 15 days.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was clinical deterioration within 15

days of randomization defined by meeting both criteria of (1) shortness of breath or

hospitalization for shortness of breath or pneumonia and (2) oxygen saturation less than 92%

on room air or need for supplemental oxygen to achieve oxygen saturation of 92% or greater.

RESULTS Of 152 patients who were randomized (mean [SD] age, 46 [13] years; 109 [72%]

women), 115 (76%) completed the trial. Clinical deterioration occurred in 0 of 80 patients in

the fluvoxamine group and in 6 of 72 patients in the placebo group (absolute difference, 8.7%

[95% CI, 1.8%-16.4%] from survival analysis; log-rank P = .009). The fluvoxamine group had 1

serious adverse event and 11 other adverse events, whereas the placebo group had 6 serious

adverse events and 12 other adverse events.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this preliminary study of adult outpatients with

symptomatic COVID-19, patients treated with fluvoxamine, compared with placebo, had a

lower likelihood of clinical deterioration over 15 days. However, the study is limited by a small

sample size and short follow-up duration, and determination of clinical efficacy would require

larger randomized trials with more definitive outcome measures.

TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04342663

Quote from Fm1

World on brink of fourth wave of coronavirus

https://thehill.com/homenews/s…h-wave-of-coronavirus?amp

A year after the frightening beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the world stands on the brink of a fourth wave of infection as nations race to vaccinate their populations and stave off a new surge in hospitalizations and deaths.

Total reported cases rose across the globe in the last week of February after six weeks of decline, driven in part by new, more virulent variants that transmit between people at startlingly higher rates than the initial strains out of Wuhan, China, and northern Italy.

"This is disappointing, but not surprising," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters last week. "This is a global crisis that requires a consistent and coordinated global response."

The United States recorded about 66,000 new cases a day over the last week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), down 73 percent from the apex reached in early January and similar to levels of transmission from October. But the precipitous decline of late January and early February has plateaued in recent days, raising fears that a new wave is just around the corner.

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FM,

Usually I enjoy and kinda of agree with your ramblings, but lately you’re sounding more like CNN and FOX.

“On the brink”, “stave off new deaths”,

“global crisis”, “new wave around the corner”.

The sky is falling, we’re all gonna die.

Ivermectin and FDA.

Quote from Roseland67

FM,

Usually I enjoy and kinda of agree with your ramblings, but lately you’re sounding more like CNN and FOX.

“On the brink”, “stave off new deaths”,

“global crisis”, “new wave around the corner”.

The sky is falling, we’re all gonna die.

Display More

No the sky isn't falling and the whole world won't die. But I have been saying and against the tide that we are going to see one more wave similar to last year and then a calm summer since February 1st when cases were dropping like rocks. Not CNN or Fox news has predicted another wave, they are both wrapping themselves in vaccines heroics

Quote from sam12

Ivermectin and FDA.

As mentioned before: The FDA is a highly bribed group of mafia slaves getting 80% of their income directly from big Pharma. Why should they work for free? For a drug that is free and cheap??

And yes. Why not using the horse version that in tablets (Equarell) is 100% human compatible?? As I tested several times and also got it in a pharmacy with the guarantee to be compatible?

This is against the Big pharma law. Live saving drugs must cost at least 1000$ a dose!

You are the cattle but not allowed use the cheap cattle version. (>1$/dose)

Quote from Wyttenbach

As mentioned before: The FDA is a highly bribed group of mafia slaves getting 80% of their income directly from big Pharma. Why should they work for free? For a drug that is free and cheap??

And yes. Why not using the horse version that in tablets (Equarell) is 100% human compatible?? As I tested several times and also got it in a pharmacy with the guarantee to be compatible?

This is against the Big pharma law. Live saving drugs must cost at least 1000$ a dose!

You are the cattle but not allowed use the cheap cattle version. (>1$/dose)

Display More

Think about this, who is going to manufacture the needed supply, merck has made agreements to retool lines for vaccines and their own latest and greatest treatment. India has ramped up vaccine manufacturing.

DR Eliana Aaron talk from Israel.

Quote from Fm1

Think about this, who is going to manufacture the needed supply, merck has made agreements to retool lines for vaccines and their own latest and greatest treatment.

Horses get it 4 times/year = 32 dose/100kg! --> there is more than enough on the market.

50% of Israel had at least one vaccine dose: Guess what is happening? Same increase as everywhere. Israel will use it!

Quote from Wyttenbach

Horses get it 4 times/year = 32 dose/100kg! --> there is more than enough on the market.

50% of Israel had at least one vaccine dose: Guess what is happening? Same increase as everywhere. Israel will use it!

I live in the horse capital of the world, marion county florida, I have paste but most feed stores are out of stock. Getting it online you wait up to 7 days for delivery if they have it. The bastards outsmarted us

New study warns Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines could be far less effective against South Africa variant

Researchers found a decline in neutralizing activity against B.1.351.

https://news.google.com/articl…=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

Despite the increasing global circulation of COVID-19 vaccines, the variants of the virus that emerged in late 2020 may disrupt the world's mission to achieve herd immunity, according to a new study approved for publishing in the journal Nature.

Researchers specifically look at the South African COVID-19 mutation, scientifically dubbed B.1.351, analyzing whether or not these pathogens are more resistant to immune responses prompted by the available vaccines.

Samples of biological fluids, namely convalescent plasma and vaccinee sera, were collected and studied for the volume of COVID-19-neutralizing antibodies contained among volunteers who recovered from a documented COVID-19 infection. This highlights concern for potential reinfection.

When analyzing volunteer vaccinee sera - or fluid from individuals who had been fully vaccinated - the results were similarly grim; neutralizing activity was "significantly lower" against B.1.351, regardless of which vaccine patients received.

Moderna's vaccine candidate was found to be 12.4 times less effective against the South African variant, and Pfizer's was found to have a reduced effectiveness by about 10.3 times.

A silver lining could be that both vaccine candidates held up well against the U.K. variant of COVID-19.

"The overall findings are worrisome, particularly in light of recent reports that both Novavax and Johnson & Johnson vaccines showed a substantial drop in efficacy in South Africa," the authors concluded.

First originating in its namesake South Africa, B.1.351 has quickly spread across the globe. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports 81 confirmed cases across 20 separate jurisdictions in the U.S. The first known case was detected in the U.S. in January 2021, with official CDC statements calling for more research on the variant.

Both the U.K. and the South African version of COVID-19 see mutation specifically in the spike protein's binding sites, which constrains how antibodies produced by the human immune system can fight the virus.

"If the rampant spread of the virus continues and more critical mutations accumulate, then we may be condemned to chasing after the evolving SARS-CoV-2 continually, as we have long done for influenza virus," the authors warn. "Such considerations require that we stop virus transmission as quickly as is feasible, by redoubling our mitigation measures and by expediting vaccine rollout."

In response to the mutations and concerns over approved vaccines' efficacy, pharmaceutical companies have issued studies to watch how the variants develop.

In January, Pfizer announced its vaccine responds well against 16 different mutations. Meanwhile, Moderna announced that it was working on developing a booster vaccine to help bridge any gaps its first vaccine misses when fighting a COVID-19 variant.

Montana microbiologist creates potential COVID-19 treatment

https://news.google.com/articl…=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

A rainforest fungus discovered by a Montana microbiologist produces an antiviral agent effective at killing disease-causing elements of COVID-19, opening up the possibilities of antiviral therapies for treatment or prevention of the disease.

A peer-reviewed study of microbiologist Gary Strobel’s Propylamylatin formula concludes that it kills the causative agents of COVID-19, something the retired Montana State University scientist suspected based on his discovery’s previous effectiveness in halting a coronavirus epidemic in pigs.

The study was published March 5 in the online journal “Viruses.” Researchers at the University of Florida concluded that a small amount of Propylamylatin formula might be sufficient to relieve gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms of COVID-19. In lab tests, the formula eliminated COVID-19 when directly exposed. Strobel is hopeful the findings will draw the attention of the Food and Drug Administration and others capable of accelerating the research

A COVID-19 patient died after experiencing a 3-hour erection that doctors struggled to treat

https://www.insider.com/covid-…-hour-erection-2021-3?amp

A man experienced a rare COVID-19 side effect, a three-hour-long erection, before dying from complications related to the disease.

According to a January 1 case report in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, the 69-year-old man went to the emergency room after medication his doctor prescribed him didn't help with his shortness of breath.

The man, who had obesity and had been coughing the entire week before, soon developed a fever. When the ER doctors who wrote the case report tested him for COVID-19, the results came back positive.

His health continued to deteriorate over the next 10 days in the hospital and he needed steroids, a ventilator, and to be turned face-down to stimulate air flow through his body, a known technique called proning shown to work for COVID-19. Around 12 hours later, a nurse discovered the patient experiencing a strange COVID-19 symptom that'd only been reported once before — priapism, or an unintended hours-long erection that can feel painful

Priapism is rare, tends to affect people over 30, and is more common in people with blood disorders like sickle cell anemia, leukemia, and multiple myeloma, according to the Mayo Clinic. Priapism is the result of either blood being unable to leave the penis, or blood flowing improperly into the penis.

Though only two known people had priapism after being diagnosed with COVID-19, experts say it makes sense the blood-related condition could occur. That's because a person infected with the coronavirus may experience a cytokine storm where their body's immune system goes haywire and creates blood clots. Those blood clots have the potential to affect the penis, Dr. Richard Viney, a urological surgeon at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK, told the Daily Mail.

"In this patient, he had low flow priapism which would certainly fit with microemboli [little clots forming in smaller blood vessels] and this is one of the complications of COVID we see in many other organ systems," said Viney.

The man died soon after his erection was cured

First, the hospital staff flipped the man onto his back and used ice packs in an attempt to bring his erection down.

When that method didn't work, the doctors gave his penis an ultrasound. They saw his blood vessels were clear and working properly, so they diagnosed him with ischemic priapism, the type related to blood-drainage issues.

To treat the patient, doctors did a standard procedure for people with ischemic priapism, inserting two needles into the penile shaft to drain the excess blood. They also gave him a decongestant medication and 30 minutes later, his erection was gone.

The man's lungs continued to worsen and he died from COVID-19 complications soon after, though he didn't have another erection during that time

Now blue balls is killing us

Covid-19: Type 1 diabetes and Covid-19 link being investigated

https://news.google.com/articl…=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

A study is under way in the Southern Health Trust area to investigate possible links between Type 1 diabetes and Covid-19.

A consultant paediatrician said there has been an increase in the number of young people being diagnosed since the beginning of the pandemic.

Last year, the trust said there were 41 new cases, its highest yearly total on record.

Dr Sarinda Millar specialises in Type 1 diabetes in children and young people.

"We are having more diagnoses, specially since the start of 2021 but more last year, as well," she said.

"But in January we had nine new cases of Type 1 diabetes in children and young people in one week alone in our trust area," she said.

"In other years, we wouldn't even have had one every week. And regionally, we have all seen an increase in Type 1 diabetes which leads us to question is Covid-19 in some way related?"

The trust said that prior to 2019 there would have been between 25 and 30 diagnoses a year.

Type 1 diabetes is a serious autoimmune condition which results in the body not being able to produce the hormone insulin which controls blood glucose [sugar] levels.

Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented and is the most common type of diabetes in both children and young adults.

Diet and lifestyle play no role in the development of Type 1 diabetes, which is a completely different condition to Type 2.

COVID-19’s death toll in northern Italy was staggering. Did air pollution play a role?

https://www.latimes.com/world-…n-possible-role?_amp=true

Researchers in Europe quickly noticed that coronavirus hot spots seemed to correspond to relatively polluted areas around the world, such as Bergamo, New York and parts of China, and began investigating. A study published in the December issue of the journal Cardiovascular Research concluded that exposure to tiny particles 2.5 micrometers or smaller, known in scientific shorthand as PM2.5 particles, was correlated with a higher percentage of avoidable deaths from COVID-19 among those who came down with the disease.

That means that, all other things being equal — including the quality of healthcare facilities and public health measures taken to stop the virus’ spread — COVID-19 patients who live in these polluted areas are at greater risk of dying than stricken patients who breathe cleaner air.

“When you’re exposed to high pollution levels, your body has been under stress,” said the study’s lead author, Andrea Pozzer, an Italian researcher with Max Planck Institute in Germany. “As COVID-19 takes over and causes similar illnesses as air pollution, in the end, the chances of a fatal outcome are higher.”

Quote from Fm1

The man died soon after his erection was cured

What a nonsense. These guys never had sex probably...

Lack of oxygen is the cause....

Switzerland never had any excess mortality among people of age 0..65!

https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/d…chkeit-todesursachen.html

Why do we have a lock down??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Quote from Wyttenbach

Switzerland never had any excess mortality among people of age 0..65!

https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/d…chkeit-todesursachen.html

Why do we have a lock down??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Read the article alan posted yesterday, if true, it explains lockdowns, stimulus, and no early treatment. It takes a little while to change the world.

Pollen can raise your risk of getting COVID-19 -- even if you don't have allergies

https://news.google.com/articl…=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

What does pollen have to do with a virus?

The most important takeaway from our new study is that pollen can be a factor in exacerbating COVID-19.

A couple years ago, my coauthors showed that pollen can suppress how the human immune system responds to viruses. By interfering with proteins that signal antiviral responses in cells lining the airways, it can leave people more susceptible to potentially a whole host of respiratory viruses, such as the flu virus and other SARS viruses.

In this study, we looked specifically at COVID-19. We wanted to see how the number of new infections changed with the rise and fall of pollen levels in 31 countries around the world. We found that, on average, about 44% of the variability in COVID-19 case rates was related to pollen exposure, often in synergy with humidity and temperature.

The infection rates tended to rise four days after a high pollen count. If there was no local lockdown, the infection rate increased by an average of about 4% per 100 pollen grains in a cubic meter of air. A strict lockdown cut the increase by half.

This pollen exposure isn't just a problem for people with hay fever. It's a reaction to pollen in general. Even types of pollen that typically don't cause allergic reactions were correlated with an increase in COVID-19 infections.