Possible beneficial effect of moderately large doses of vitamin C for ICU patients on ventilators. Note this is a "metastudy." Also, it does not involve COVID-19 patients, just ICU patients in general.

https://jintensivecare.biomedc…10.1186/s40560-020-0432-y

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And what do you mean "or more slowly"? How would a virus be introduced more slowly?

I meant the epidemic started with fewer infected people per capita. California is very large. Introduced in the fall? That's a weird assertion. BTW, for what it's worth, the author of the article is a writer and historian who is extremely political and very right wing and who has seems to have absolutely no experience in biology or science. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Davis_Hanson

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Then the flu did NOT originate in China?

Of course not. It originated in a secret laboratory in the same subterranean basement of a pizzeria in Washington DC where Hillary Clinton kept a child trafficking ring.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzagate_conspiracy_theory

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So Italy had the unusually strong flu

Nobody types and sequences viruses in Italy? Nobody does autopsies on people who die at home of unknown causes? Nobody does influenza testing and typing on those patients and bodies? Weird world you live in, Mr. Shane.

The thing about whacko theories and conspiracy theories is 1) they fall apart easily and 2) their proponents usually don't see the problems or know the issues.

Quote from Shane D.

California is relatively unscathed from the virus...so far. Why?

Temperature and humidity. It is always summer in LA.

https://www.the-scientist.com/…-covid-19-treatment-67371

Blood Pressure Meds Point the Way to Possible COVID-19 Treatment

There is little evidence that antihypertensive drugs worsen COVID-19, and scientists are instead exploring the idea that such medications—or their downstream effects—may actually alleviate symptoms.

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In a study published today in Cell, Penninger’s group shows the drug can reduce the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in experimental models by a factor of 1,000 to 5,000. Today, Apeiron Biologics, the biotech company Penninger founded in 2005, was also awarded regulatory approval to start clinical trials to test the drug in patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms, which, he says, could happen as early as the end of next week.

https://nypost.com/2020/04/02/…tial-coronavirus-vaccine/

The vaccine would be delivered on a small, fingertip-sized patch. When tested on mice, the vaccine produced enough antibodies believed to successfully counteract the virus.

The study’s authors are now applying for an investigational new drug approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. They hope to start human clinical trials within the next few months.

Researchers said they sided with using a patch, rather than a traditional needle, to deliver the spike protein to the skin, which elicits the strongest immune reaction.

The patch contains 400 tiny “microneedles” made of sugar and protein pieces. It would be applied like a Band-Aid with the needles dissolving into the skin.

Current number of cases in S Africa is 1400 - far higher than within the rest of the continent. Malaria was eradicated there at the turn of the century. Explain?

Quote from Dr Richard

Current number of cases in S Africa is 1400 - far higher than within the rest of the continent. Malaria was eradicated there at the turn of the century. Explain?

Interesting Doc,

But that is bordering on “Rossi logic”, no?

What else can it be but LENR?

But knowing what it isn’t is not the same as knowing what it is.

Gonna keep an eye on HCQ tests and trials

and hope you’re right, easy fix if so.

Mats Lewan perspective on CV from

Sweden.

https://matslew.wordpress.com/…orecast-greatly-improved/

Excellent geopolitical analysis here (sorry for Google translation)

https://www.capital.fr/entrepr…ecte-par-la-crise-1366613

At the root of the global health, economic and financial crisis, China risks experiencing turbulence in the coming years. However, while a huge public debt weighs down on the United States, but also Europe - anything but united -, it could do well, Judge Marc Touati, president of ACDEFI cabinet.

Sports competitions have at least one point in common with those which are played on the economic front: there are, on the one hand, the potential and generally consensual results “on paper” and, on the other, the actual results “ of the field ”, which are very often very different from the first. Thus, even if the coronavirus pandemic is unfortunately not over, logic would dictate that its country of origin, in this case China, be the big loser. This is all the more true since the Middle Kingdom has probably lied on almost the entire line, and in particular on the dangerousness of the virus or the number of infected and dead.

As Reporters Without Borders said, certainly rightly, "If the Chinese press was free, the coronavirus might not have become a pandemic." Indeed, if the Chinese internet were not isolated by an elaborate system of electronic censorship and if the media were not forced to follow the instructions of the Communist Party, the epidemic would surely have been circumscribed more quickly and would necessarily have been taken much more seriously around the world.

Of course, we cannot rewrite history and it would be futile to believe in any conspiracy theory. However, the facts are there: the Covid-19 epidemic spread to the world from China, whose democratic, health and social standards are far from Western standards.

The tragedy is that, for grossly mercantile reasons, almost all the countries of the planet have ignored these deficiencies as serious as they are obvious. Obviously, until recent weeks, international collective blindness was almost normal: by virtue of the famous “sentimental kilometer” dear to French academician Jean Dutourd according to which only what is close really matters to us, we were ready to forget collectively that China was a dictatorship with deplorable sanitary standards, provided that products made in China were inexpensive.

Today, when the "rose pot" is exposed, it is no longer possible to hide your face. In this context and “on paper”, China should be the big loser of the pandemic. Indeed, companies and consumers around the world should now refuse to produce in the Middle Empire and / or buy its products, as long as it does not make its mea culpa and decides to become a democracy, with freedom of the media, the end of communism and the establishment of impeccable health transparency.

To the extent that these revolutions will take time, a relocation movement is expected to occur, massively reducing global demand for China. However, to the extent that the latter has overinvested in recent years and has also gone into massive debt in the hope that the return on investment would be massive and rapid, a collapse in demand for Chinese products would not only result in a substantial recession and sustainable, but also through a severe financial crisis. Let’s not forget that bad debts are around 30% of credits in the Middle Kingdom.

Given this Chinese recession, the rest of the world should obviously suffer, but given the relocation movement, growth would gradually return, in particular to the United States and Europe, which would obviously stand up to durably weaken the Chinese hegemony. Unfortunately, these bright prospects are likely to remain "on paper". Because, on the ground, the situation risks becoming very different. The Chinese economy will certainly slow down considerably.

However, thanks to $ 3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, about 1.2 trillion U.S. treasury bills and at least as many European bonds, not to mention its stakes in many companies around the world, China has '' a comfortable safety mattress. Even worse, the latter could be used to pressure the United States and Europe not to turn their backs on Chinese companies and products.

Already entangled in a much more extravagant public debt than that of China, the USA - Europe bloc risks very quickly laying down its arms. Even more serious, one of the two could ally with the Middle Kingdom to weaken the third thief.

And, very sadly, to the extent that the European Union is anything but united, it is very likely that the latter has been, as usual for 25 years, the "stuffing turkey". And this especially as the United States will still be able to dispose of the king dollar (which, let us not forget always represents 50% of world transactions and 70% of foreign exchange reserves across the globe) and of course the first world military power to impose their dictate.

Even more serious, since Italy, Greece, even Spain and France were already in near-bankruptcy before the tragedy of the Coronavirus, what will they become in the coming years, with debts more than 150% or even 200% of GDP? Obviously, the ECB and German surpluses will not necessarily be able to come to the rescue and pay for the others. In this context, if European solidarity, which is already very pale, is still under attack, the euro zone could either disappear or, in the best of cases, remain anemic for a long time.

In conclusion, and as I often say: crises are always phases of opportunity, but also revealing strengths and weaknesses. Let us hope that, for once, the European and American leaders will be able to join forces, preferring "to win together" rather than "to lose alone". Otherwise, and as crazy as it may seem, it is China which risks being the big winner of the crisis which it has itself launched ...

California is thoroughly locked down. And we do not know yet how it will end up in terms of total cases and total deaths. It is nowhere near the peak incidence. So it is way premature to guess at why it has somewhat lower case rates than elsewhere.

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There is little evidence that antihypertensive drugs worsen COVID-19, and scientists are instead exploring the idea that such medications—or their downstream effects—may actually alleviate symptoms.

Right. ACE inhibitors and ARB's used to treat hypertension and heart failure do not affect the receptors that the virus uses to attach to cells. The nomenclature is confusing. I have documented this here before with a link.

This is why better larger well done studies of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are so urgently needed. And I think they are being done.

So this was another small study without controls and randomization which yielded contrary results to those cited by Raoult.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/…99077X20300858?via%3Dihub

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In summary, despite a reported antiviral activity of chloroquine against COVID-19 in vitro, we

found no evidence of a strong antiviral activity or clinical benefit of the combination of

hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin for the treatment of our hospitalized patients with

severe COVID-19. Ongoing randomized clinical trials with hydroxychloroquine should provide

a definitive answer regarding the alleged efficacy of this combination and will assess its safety.

Quote from seven_of_twenty

This is why better larger well done studies of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are so urgently needed. And I think they are being done.

So this was another small study without controls and randomization which yielded contrary results to those cited by Raoult.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/…99077X20300858?via%3Dihub

In addition, that study was dealing with patients already far advanced in the disease. It would not be surprising if a number of treatments effective if taken from early stages are not effective at the end. So, even if it were not so tiny, and uncontrolled, its results would not contradict positive results from studies like the 31+31 RCT that I (and a few others) like which strongly indicates (no more) clinical benefits from drug administered to patients at an earlier stage of the disease.

Interesting stats on Covid care profiles. For one thing, if you want to get off the ventilator, go on a diet now and get to a state of skin and bones.

Quote from seven_of_twenty

https://www.sciencedirect.com/…99077X20300858?via%3Dihub

This outcome is as expected. The treatments should start after first symptoms not at the ICU state where anyway 50% pass the Jordan despite taking Kaletra, Remsdevir, favipiravir etc..

Look at the death/ICU rate(s) in Switzerland and Germany where the above are given quite early.

etc...

Bayer, Novartis and Teva Pharm have agreed to manufacture 250 million doses of HCQ enough to treat 46 million cases. No need to worry then.c

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/0…ia-coronavirus-china.html

C.I.A. Hunts for Authentic Virus Totals in China, Dismissing Government Tallies

Intelligence officials have told the White House for weeks that China has vastly understated the spread of the coronavirus and the damage the pandemic has done.

https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.…-portando-avanti/5759037/

via Google translate

Coronavirus and hydroxychloroquine: the point on home experimentation with the doctors who are carrying it out

The scientific community is divided, Chinese and French publications that would attest to its effectiveness, but on small numbers. But, now it is a matter of understanding and interpreting raw information and analyzing the data arriving in the race, even in Italy. We managed to collect and assemble interesting data organically - still far from the trappings of a scientific publication - on about 200 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine at home. Data collected thanks to the collaboration of the ASL of Alessandria, the General Manager Roberto Stura, and the Director of the Oncology-Hematology department of the Piacenza Local Health Authority, Luigi Cavanna. Out of these 200, remission of fever was found in 85% - 90% of cases (what this may mean we will understand later).

It should be immediately stated that these data have limits, are not randomized, it has not always been possible to make a pre and post treatment buffer. However, the statistical convergence of patients' response to the drug in the first 48-72 hours, on average, is interesting. Those who are on the field are talking about the data.

First of all, it must be said how the home prescription works, without going to the hospital. Those with suspicious symptoms call the regional numbers, 1500, or the general practitioner directly, who must make targeted assessments for each patient. For example, if there are concomitant pathologies that could interact with the drug, such as previous cardiac pathologies, the doctor assesses - as always in pharmacology - the risks and benefits, before prescribing it. Hydroxychloroquine is well tolerated by a large number of patients who regularly use it for autoimmune diseases: lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, but it must always be prescribed by the doctor (never independently) who will then monitor the response to the drug day by day and patient's state of health (two calls a day, or video calls). In this treatment, hydroxychloroquine can be associated, or not, with an antibiotic such as zithromycin, (or of another type), even if Aifa is cautious and maintains that the association with an antibiotic is not proven to be useful and required.

What is the advantage of treating a patient at home, rather than in the hospital? According to the oncologist Luigi Cavanna "if we find symptoms of the coronavirus we do an ultrasound and we give the hydroxychloroquine and control instruments. If treatment is started early, few patients need to be hospitalized. It is a strategy that can change the history of this disease. " The oncologist and pharmacologist Antonio Marfella of the Pascale Institute of Naples also associates with this interpretation: “The timeliness of the treatment, after a doctor's prescription, is already essential within the first 72 hours of the onset of symptoms: fever, absence of smell and taste, cough ".

AIFA AND HYDROXYCHLOROCHINA

With Determines n. 258 of 17 March, Aifa authorized the reimbursement, also at home and for the NHS, for three months of the medicines Clorochina, hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of patients suffering from SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) infection. What evidence of efficacy and safety do we have available? According to AIFA, there are some anecdotal results. And then the preliminary results on more than 100 patients treated in China that seem to demonstrate the superiority of chloroquine compared to control in improving the course of the disease in patients with pneumonia associated with Covid-19 infection. Finally, a consensus recently published in China advocates its clinical use and inclusion in the guidelines.

ANDREA SAVARINO, researcher at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, one of the top experts in Europe of hydroxychloroquine

To understand how the experimentation is going, we asked Andrea Savarino, a researcher at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, one of the top experts in Europe of chloroquine / hydroxychloroquine, to give us a picture of the substance. Savarino is responsible for managing and analyzing the huge data flow that is also being collected in hospital institutions, on the effectiveness of treatment with chloroquine / hydroxychloric against Covid19.

The scientific community is showing opinions for and against. Has chloroquine / hydroxychloroquine currently had positive results only on anecdotal level?

Without a doubt, there are no data obtained with randomized clinical trials conducted according to all the trappings of the discipline. This however is not a situation like any other. Humanity was taken aback by an unexpected pathogen. On the one hand, we are moving in a largely unexplored territory that forces us to continually change course in a changing situation and prevents us from sticking to a rigid long-term protocol. On the other hand, it is necessary to guarantee the widest possible access to drugs that have any chance of functioning, and the administration of a placebo in this case is considered by many to be unacceptable from an ethical point of view. Interesting is the survey conducted by Sermo, a global health survey company, on 6,227 doctors in 30 countries, which found that 37% of those who treat COVID-19 patients rated hydroxychloroquine as the "most effective therapy" by a list of 15 options. The Food and Drug Administration of the United States has given - on Monday - the authorization to the emergency use of chloroquine / hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of the new coronavirus, although the drug was already used off-label by some doctors and hospitals for COVID patients -19.

Aifa has approved hydroxychloroquine for home use (after doctor's prescription), what do you think?

Therefore, I think it was an excellent idea to propose home treatments to infected individuals before the infection developed into pneumonia.

Always Aifa maintains that there is no evidence that the addition of antibiotics is safe and improves the evolution of the disease

Although theoretically the use of antibiotics could avoid the so-called bacterial superinfections that could aggravate the disease, I agree with AIFA that there are currently not enough studies to support this hypothesis.

In the interviews with the Primary Luigi Cavanna, and with the Pneumolgo Moreno Ferrarese, a datum emerges (all to be validated), that is, between 48 and 72 the remission of the fever begins, what does it mean?

The resolution of a febrile episode is a positive prognostic sign. Today we know that this indicates a pause in the massive activation of the immune system by the replication / proliferation of a pathogen. It is also possible that a minority of cases of patients with COVID-19 following the resolution of the febrile episode may still progress towards a picture of interstitial pneumonia: it is therefore necessary that they are followed carefully over time.

How does chloroquine / hydroxychloroquine work: does it intervene on inflammatory cytokines (interleukin L6)?

Chloroquine / hydroxychloroquine acts with a double mechanism of action (antiviral and immunological). The antiviral mechanism of action is fairly well characterized (inhibition of virus entry into cells). The immunological mechanism is based on two cornerstones: A) the inhibition of transfer of iron into the cells by transferrin (this limits the ability of some white blood cells, the lymphocytes, to proliferate abnormally following some stimuli); B) inhibition of the secretion of a pro-inflammatory molecule, TNF-alpha.

Can I simplify by saying that the effect of chloroquine / hydroxychlorochime is to block the storm of inflammatory cytokines, because this immune reaction can cause more damage than the virus itself?Yes.

What are the contraindications?

I don't see big contraindications: a large-scale study in patients with lupus (an autoimmune disease) shows that treatment with hydroxychloroquine does not increase the risk of infections, but decreases it.

Yet there are some recent news reports in which deaths have been reported after the use of chloroquine

As in the case of the Arizona patient, many of the cases of toxicity recently recorded in France, according to the newspaper le Point, would have resulted from self-administration of the drug. Like many other drugs, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine can cause changes in the electrocardiogram. The use of chloroquine / hydroxychloroquine, like that of other drugs, must be strictly monitored by a doctor. What amazes me is self-administration: neither chloroquine nor hydroxychloroquine should be accessible to consumers without a prescription either in Europe or in the United States.

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