COVID-19

[JohnRoberts]

Well, the issue with treating this is it appears to cause interstitial viral pneumonia as a primary symptom (showing up as ground glass opacities on CT / xray). The can cause edema around the heart and is probably one of the reasons heart disease is the highest reported comorbidity.

Steroids reduce inflammation by suppressing immune system response. But you also don't want to suppress the immune system so much that the virus or a secondary infection actually kills you. Its a balancing act.

yup. the steroid dose in most inhalers is very small... but modulating the immune system the wrong way if facing infection.

JR

Lots of things being tried now - polymerase inhibitors sort of deny the virus the resources it needs to replicate itself, receptor site binders deny the virus attachment points. These are likely what the HIV antivirals that we're hearing are doing. Then there are some drugs that are used to treat cytokine storms - basically anything that reduces the enzymes which cause inflammation - which no doubt are also being tried.

Had a long chat with my college roommate who is a doc about this last night. Pretty fascinating stuff. Modern medicine is incredible.

 

[Script]

Japan using supercomputers to identify existing drugs that are most effective in dealing with the new virus. The idea behind this is that side-effects of existing drugs are already known, as opposed to new drugs that have to undergo lenghty trials.

https://japantoday.com/category/national/scientists-rush-to-analyze-existing-drugs-for-covid-19-treatment

 

[ruffrecords]

UK scientists have devised a simple breath test to detect the virus.

UK cases up to 51 today. How many where you are?

Cheers

Ian

 

[Script]

Japan:
237 active
(711 !? on that cruise ship excluded)
24 critical
6 deaths
46 recovered

 

[gyraf]

Aargh - they just cancelled the Musikmesse in Frankfurt this year because of this, just as I had booked non-refundable flight and hotel..  :

..probably a good measure, but annoying indeed..

/Jakob E.

 

[Majestic12]

Aargh - they just cancelled the Musikmesse in Frankfurt this year because of this, just as I had booked non-refundable flight and hotel..  :

..probably a good measure, but annoying indeed..

/Jakob E.

It's not cancelled but postponed to end of may. But we (ES-Pro Audio) have withdrawn our complete booth because it would not be possible to re-arrange everything with all our different brands.

But I can't really be bothered too much. Frankfurt Musik Messe was already dead

 

[ruffrecords]

Here is a link to a live update of the number of cases and their situation:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

In Europe Italy seems to be worst hit. Not sure why that should be.

Cheers

Ian

 

[JohnRoberts]

Aargh - they just cancelled the Musikmesse in Frankfurt this year because of this, just as I had booked non-refundable flight and hotel..  :

..probably a good measure, but annoying indeed..

/Jakob E.

Frankfurt might be nice without all those music industry pukes everywhere.... :

At least one US airline is allowing no charge ticket changes, but maybe not for a year later...

JR

 

[dogears]

Here is a link to a live update of the number of cases and their situation:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

In Europe Italy seems to be worst hit. Not sure why that should be.

Cheers

Ian

Large amount of travel to China and a Chinese population in northern Italy relating to clothing production is what I have read.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Iran government has ordered religious sites shut down, while the religious leaders have refused and are still allowing pilgrims in, including unsafe handling of religious icons...  This could get a lot worse there. Most other countries are behaving more sensibly.

Another data point, this is most dangerous for older people so countries with disproportionately aged populations could suffer more fatalities, all else equal.   

JR

 

[Bo Deadly]

There are definitely cultural differences that affect infection. In China, a lot of people use coal burning stoves which causes significant pollution that could affect their existing respiratory function. There are multiple people in the same home. There are far more manufacturing jobs so more people take public transport to a factory where they touch something that they then hand to the next person. In the US, pollution isn't as bad, people have their own home / live alone, they have their own personal car, their own office space, their own computer, ... People in the US live in silos. That might make enough of a difference for medical support to keep up with demand and maybe stretch it out long enough for the scientists to figure things out.

 

[cyrano]

Americans aren’t left to die outside of hospitals. That’s ignorant.

35% of the work force can't even afford to stay home if they get sick. How do you think these people can afford US hospital prices? Or medicine prices?

A serious infection vector, if you ask me...

 

[cyrano]

Sorry for the derail - for those who have been saying this is HIV or a bioweapon or the illuminati thinning the herd etc..

http://virological.org/t/the-proximal-origin-of-sars-cov-2/398

Take all recent publications with a grain of salt, as mentioned.  ;D

How about this one?

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.30.927871v1.full.pdf

 

[dogears]

How about this one?

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.30.927871v1.full.pdf

That paper was destroyed by review and withdrawn. See the watermark?

 

[dogears]

35% of the work force can't even afford to stay home if they get sick. How do you think these people can afford US hospital prices? Or medicine prices?

A serious infection vector, if you ask me...

Again.  In the United States doctor or a hospital absolutely cannot refuse to treat a person with life-threatening or serious injuries or illnesses - regardless of payment status or whether they have insurance, race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, residence, citizenship, or legal status.

Can't afford to stay home? This makes you sick for 1-2 weeks, not a year. Not being able to float your expenses for 1-2 weeks is not a coronavirus problem.

 

[Scodiddly]

Again.  In the United States doctor or a hospital absolutely cannot refuse to treat a person with life-threatening or serious injuries or illnesses - regardless of payment status or whether they have insurance, race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, residence, citizenship, or legal status.

For emergencies.  What about cancer treatment?  What about basic wellness so that you don't have as many emergencies?

 

[rob_gould]

Again.  In the United States doctor or a hospital absolutely cannot refuse to treat a person with life-threatening or serious injuries or illnesses - regardless of payment status or whether they have insurance, race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, residence, citizenship, or legal status.

And at the end of the urgent / 'can't be refused' treatment, is the individual presented with a bill?  If they are, i think your point is moot.

Isn't his point that someone who knows they can't afford 1k / 10k / 100k for medical treatment chooses not to present themselves at a hospital because they don't want to become indebted for an amount of money they can't afford?

 

[dogears]

For emergencies.  What about cancer treatment?  What about basic wellness so that you don't have as many emergencies?

What about glasses and contacts? What about vitamin supplements? What about food? What about clothes? What about shelter?  What about entertainment - that contributes to "basic wellness". When does it end?

When did personal wellness cease being a personal responsibility or a social one by borne by individuals exercising charity and virtue and become the responsibility of the government to force on people?

You are free to donate as much money as you wish to cancer charities. Here's a couple who would gladly take your donation:
St Jude
Memorial Sloan Kettering
MD Anderson
American Cancer Society

Why do you have to pick your neighbor's pocket to force them to do something that you believe is a moral good? This is the problem. It's always about someone else's behavior, never about our own.

 

[gyraf]

No need for the angry approach or personal attacks - it seems like a simple fact that a rather big economic lower class is motivated to stay away from medical care and thus screening, and will as such provide an uncontrollable pool of infection for everyone else.. Or do I misunderstand the situation?

/Jakob E.

 

[JohnRoberts]

We should resist the temptation to politicize this, even though the politicians can't help themselves, in this the crazy season of a presidential election year.

JR