COVID-19: Good news, bad news

Photo by Markus Spiske

First, the bad news with respect to COVID-19:

Coronavirus sufferers still have weird symptoms 100 days after surviving bug – https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/coronavirus-sufferers-still-weird-symptoms-22345011

Study shows majority of recovered coronavirus patients struggle with lasting symptoms  –   https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/07/12/study-shows-majority-of-recovered-coronavirus-patients-struggle-with-lasting-symptoms/

The New “Debilitating” Symptom Hitting Younger Coronavirus Patients – https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/the-new-debilitating-symptom-hitting-younger-coronavirus-patients/ar-BB16G4EX

Researcher: Asymptomatic Coronavirus Patients Can Still Face Organ Damage (Scripps)  – https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/jun/14/scripps-asymptomatic-coronavirus-patients-organ/

Coronavirus survivors share their experiences with delirium, brain fog, and memory issues – https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-have-coronavirus-delirium-brain-fog-memory-2020-7

Coronavirus survivor shares terrifying symptoms the CDC won’t tell us about – https://bgr.com/2020/07/13/coronavirus-survivor-shares-terrifying-symptoms-the-cdc-wont-tell-us-about/

Physicians give first comprehensive review of COVID-19’s effects outside the lung   – https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-physicians-comprehensive-covid-effects-lung.html

Researcher: Asymptomatic Coronavirus Patients Can Still Face Organ Damage –   https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/jun/14/scripps-asymptomatic-coronavirus-patients-organ/

Coronavirus autopsies: A story of 38 brains, 87 lungs and 42 hearts – https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/07/01/coronavirus-autopsies-findings/

COVID-19 Global Neuro Network: https://braininfectionsglobal.tghn.org/covid-neuro-network/

Lifelong Lung Damage: The Serious COVID-19 Complication That Can Hit People in Their 20s  – https://www.healthline.com/health-news/lifelong-lung-damage-the-serious-covid-19-complication-that-can-hit-people-in-their-20s 

Autopsies Indicate Blood Clots Are Lethal in COVID-19 – https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/autopsies-indicate-blood-clots-are-lethal-in-covid-19-67727

How Covid-19 can damage the brain (includes findings from over 300 studies) – https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200622-the-long-term-effects-of-covid-19-infection

A New Understanding of Herd Immunity – https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2020/07/new-understanding-herd-immunity/166836/

PubMed NIH database search on 7-14-2020 using the key phrase “organ damage and Covid-19” (I selected the most illustrative citations)- Display the 41 citations in PubMed

And now the good news:

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

University of Toronto scientists created a face mask that “deactivates” the COVID-19 virus in minutes (And it is on the market!) – https://bit.ly/2C5dl7u/

It appears that many people who contract Covid-19 — including asymptomatic young people with NO apparent risk factors — are harboring a stealth biological  timebomb in their bodies. One in which the virus may cause organ damage slowly over time and/or reside in body tissue reservoirs only to become active when triggered by specific influences or conditions. If so, then in the years to come we are going to see more and more people surface with significant organ damage that will leave them hobbled, disabled or worse.

This brings me to: containment & management of the Covid-19 virus (in infected people) is IMO the most reasonable health & life preserving approach at this point in time. And in this regard I recently connected some biological dots  — intracellular pathways I figured out how to exploit as part of a body of bench & whiteboard ( theory) work I did back in the 1980s —  with similar pathways which have come to light with respect to Covid-19 activity in lung, heart & other cells. This came together suddenly on the heel of emails I got last week (July 6-10) from a Dean of Medicine at Emory University followed almost at the same time by an article published in a major peer reviewed journal in which a team of researchers outlined a containment approach which dovetails with insights I had back in the 1980s. I am now quickly maneuvering to take advantage of this biological Achilles heel in Covid-19 infected volunteers.

If I am indeed on the right track then I will be able to hand folks whose bodies harbor the Covid-19 virus a way to induce lysis (die off) in many virus infected cells, reduce viral penetration of new cells and interfere with the viruses ability to replicate. Containment and management.