Two days ago, the Infectious Disease Society (IDSA) published its recommendations against the use of Hydroxychloroquine and convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19. Apparently, they knew that Trump would announce the FDA authorization of plasma therapy for COVID-19, and they wanted to strike preemptively. At the same time, they recommended the use of the ineffective and unsafe drug, Remdesivir. Continue reading IDSA against HCQ and Plasma
Convalescent Plasma is OK, but HCQ is Better
Convalescent plasma has been widely and successfully used as a COVID-19 treatment. For example, a survey Sermo W3, April 15, shows that 46% of the doctors that had used convalescent plasma or had seen it used, said it is very or extremely effective against COVID-19.
Plasma has been positively mentioned in Hydroxychloroquine-based COVID-19 Treatment, A Systematic Review of Clinical Evidence and Expert Opinion from Physicians’ Surveys.
Continue reading Convalescent Plasma is OK, but HCQ is Better
COVID-19 Treatment and Prophylaxis
There is a cure for COVID-19!
Treatment: HCQ + AZ + Zn + vitamin-C (4 g/day) early on symptoms, even in the low-risk populations.
Prophylaxis: HCQ + Zn + vitamin-C (1 g/day) in the high-risk populations.
Oseltamivir and QT Interval
The Brazilian trial, Borba et al. [3], in which critically ill patients were given toxic doses of chloroquine (not hydroxychloroquine), also included oseltamivir. Oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) is known to prolong QT interval [1]. It is also known to cause Bradycardia, both confirmed by animal experiments [2] (citing [1] for the results in humans). The NIH COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines described the Brazilian HCQ trial in detail, but failed to mention that oseltamivir is known to prolong QT interval on its own. The NIH Guidelines also failed to mention that the study authors stressed that the findings cannot be extrapolated to non-severe cases (emphasis is mine): Continue reading Oseltamivir and QT Interval
COVID-19 Notes
We have 3 deaths/M/day. Below is a sub-sample of countries that had no or almost no COVID-19 deaths in the last week – 0.0 to 0.23 deaths/M/day. Do they have a cure for COVID-19 or no?
Multiple Causes of Increase in C19 Cases & Hospitalizations
Update 2020-08-12. A push for more testing might have caused increase in the COVID-19 infection cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Some doctors require patients with COVID-19 symptoms to have a PCR test before prescribing HCQ-based treatment. More testing caused longer processing times. Consequently, many COVID-19 patients could not receive Hydroxychloroquine-based treatment in time. Some of them ended up in hospitals or even worse. Even patients, who got over it without visible consequences, carried a higher viral load for longer time and spread it wider, compared with those who received HCQ treatment immediately or after a short wait. Thus, excessive testing was harmful.
The testing numbers were increasing all the time. In the end of June, a push to suddenly increase the demand for PCR tests started, possibly under influence of somebody attempting to overwhelm the existing testing capacities. Continue reading Multiple Causes of Increase in C19 Cases & Hospitalizations
General Masking is Useless
The author has shown that wearing face masks by the public outside of hospital/nursing settings is useless as source control for COVID-19. When mandated, it becomes harmful [1].
Other research has also shown that wearing masks by the public in general is not effective against the spread of a respiratory illness epidemic [2]: “During the 2009 pandemic of H1N1 influenza (swine flu), encouraging the public to wash their hands reduced the incidence of infection significantly whereas wearing facemasks did not” Continue reading General Masking is Useless
Why is Critical IT and Communications Infrastructure Insecure?
Google Search, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are communications services which have become central part of the critical national infrastructure. These services are owned by Alphabet Inc (GOOG), Facebook Inc. (FB), and Twitter Inc. (TWTR). The federal government gives the critical infrastructure special protection. Currently, the Department of Homeland Security designates sixteen Critical Infrastructure Sectors, because they are vital to the United States. Google Search, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter appear to fall within two of these designated sectors: Information Technology and Communications. Other sectors include Dams; Defense Industrial Base; Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste. Most of the plants and services in these sectors are owned by private corporations. The ownership does not allow them or their employees to misuse them or to threaten their integrity or functionality. The federal government must secure IT and communications infrastructure and hence must protect Twitter service from abuse by Twitter Inc., its CEO Jack Dorsey, and their woke employees in the same way as it protects nuclear power plants. The same applies to Facebook, YouTube, Google Search, and a few other services, operated by Big Tech. A smooth operation of these services is especially important during the current state of national emergency, declared due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading Why is Critical IT and Communications Infrastructure Insecure?