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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Dr. Steven Smith: Hydroxychloroquine Works; "This is the beginning of the end of coronavirus" |
| 2020-04-02 |
| Posted by:DarthVader |
| #10 Beautifully explained, Marilyn Tojo7566. Prayers for your Papa in this challenging time. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-04-02 23:39 |
| #9 Azithromycin is another drug that they give with the plaquenil. Its a macrolide, and those are not just antibiotic, but they have immuno-modulatory and anti-inflammatory effect. Azithromycin is believed to produce its effects through suppressing certain immune responses that may contribute to inflammation of the airways. Papa is given that when he has an exacerbation of COPD to ease his breathing. Its generic, and like plaquenil, its on the list of "safest and most effective medicines" rated by the CDC and WHO. Walmart has it as a $4 generic. And we should have plenty of it available - In 2017, azithromycin was the second most prescribed antibiotic for outpatients in the United States, 12million or more prescriptions. Its not the virus, its the inflammation (something called a cytokine storm) and resultant fluid filling the lungs that kills people - so treatment of the symptoms with "H&A" and herd immunity is the way to stop a lot of cases from becoming hospitalizations an intubations. |
| Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 2020-04-02 23:37 |
| #8 the Smith Center is in NJ and this is badly needed as NJ cases and deaths have increased rapidly the past week |
| Posted by: lord garth 2020-04-02 18:53 |
| #7 The owner of CureVac in Germany thinks it's possible they have a vaccine ready until the end of the year. I wish them luck, but I'm not sanguine about their chances. When Ebola hit the DRC in 2015 there had already been lots of work done on a vaccine. Then they fast-tracked it for obvious reasons. Still didn't get approved until December, 2019. Chloroquine has been around for decades. We have a pretty good idea how it works and how safe it is. With any vaccine you are starting at square one, and everything I'm hearing is that vaccines for this kind of virus are hard. Plus, oh yeah, a partially effective vaccine can make things worse. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2020-04-02 18:46 |
| #6 The owner of CureVac in Germany thinks it's possible they have a vaccine ready until the end of the year. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2020-04-02 18:07 |
| #5 There is no way there's a vaccine for at least a year. Too easy to make things worse. It's possible, for example, for a vaccine to create a small number of antibodies and actually make the disease worse. So for this outbreak of this disease, treatment is the way forward. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2020-04-02 18:04 |
| #4 Bayer has stockpiles and it isn't difficult to produce. |
| Posted by: Count Galeazzo Thramp8202 2020-04-02 15:30 |
| #3 IIRC, India stopped exporting it maybe 10 days ago. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2020-04-02 14:33 |
| #2 Assuming China will send us what we can't manufacture for ourselves. |
| Posted by: gorb 2020-04-02 14:27 |
| #1 Maybe... at least until we have a full vaccine. However, patients that have undergone a 3 day or more treatment haven't had to be put on ventilators. This treatment does have the promise of making this virus go from really scary and deadly to vulnerable groups to just annoying AF. That right there will allow people to restart their lives and the economy. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2020-04-02 12:20 |