Happy [slightly belated] Birthday!! I was so focused on the bit about your husband's cousin that I overlooked the most important part of your post! May this be the beginning of a year full of blessings and joy :)
Posted this in the Coronavirus thread too but it fits here as well.
Hydroxychloroquine(malaria drug from 50s) paired with Zpac has cured 100% of 40 covid patients in France. The fact that's its 100% is really encouraging even with the small sample group. Best part is both are already on the market so this could end quite quickly if it works in a larger trial.
If that is the case, this lockdown and insanity will all be over in about 4-6 weeks. At that point, it seems to me like this was a big scare designed by the powers that be to remind all of us that we need to work together globally to survive, this right wing nationalist movement damn near killed us all, and to expose DT as a snake oil salesman to even his most hardened supporters.
Wishing you a very Happy and Wonderful Birthday! When it comes to your Kool-Aid kin... you did the right thing.. you honored yourself and your beliefs. I have many who attack me for being anti-Trump ..and get quite vitrolic with it here in totally red Trump Land... I always point out to them gently...isn't it funny how I can accept your right to believe as you wish, support whom you wish.. yet you are unable to do extend the same courtesy...as we can not agree to disagree on the this subject... we will not discuss it...then.. when it veers that way... change the subject or end the conversation.
Yes! many RA patients take Plaquenil " Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) is considered a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD). It can decrease the pain and swelling of arthritis. It may prevent joint damage and reduce the risk of long-term disability. Hydroxychloroquine is in a class of medications that was first used to prevent and treat malaria." It is easily available as is Zithromax.
That is exciting news!!!!
OK
Not a doctor, but there's some real misinformation flying around on here. Unless and until someone posts a link to a scientific article about so called miracle drugs, I'm holding my horses. Here are some facts:
1. Hydroxychloroquine is a malaria drug. It is also used for lupus and RA. It is considered an immune regulator, but it tends to suppress rather than boost.
2. Malaria is a parasitic, recurring bacterial infection transmitted mostly by mosquitoes (not a virus).
3. A Z-pack is 6 tablets of an antibiotic called Azithromycin. It is not a malaria drug. It is also ineffective on viral infections. Some people do benefit from taking it to prevent a secondary bacterial pneumonia.
I don't know why the French Ministry of Health is hypothesizing so loudly and frankly causing so much confusion, but here is an article refuting the above: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/927033
I'm sorry if this bums anyone out. It's important to view ALL information on the NOVEL Coronavirus with skepticism until science confirms or denies. I will concede that anything that reduces inflammation may prevent the cytokine storm that kills in COVID-19 cases (which is why they use corticosteroids), but the source of information on these particular drugs is dubious.
Posted this in the Coronavirus thread too but it fits here as well.
Hydroxychloroquine(malaria drug from 50s) paired with Zpac has cured 100% of 40 covid patients in France. The fact that's its 100% is really encouraging even with the small sample group. Best part is both are already on the market so this could end quite quickly if it works in a larger trial.
If that is the case, this lockdown and insanity will all be over in about 4-6 weeks. At that point, it seems to me like this was a big scare designed by the powers that be to remind all of us that we need to work together globally to survive, this right wing nationalist movement damn near killed us all, and to expose DT as a snake oil salesman to even his most hardened supporters.
So my physician relative sent me info about hydroxychloroquine. One thing it does is enable zinc to enter cells where it can then effectively kill viruses. In other words, it is a zinc ionophore.
This video provides a great summary of how this works and how it can be effective for covid19:
(Relevant part starts at 5:00, but the whole 10 min video is super interesting.)
As for the z-pack -- is that for secondary bacterial pneumonia? Or did it actually say Zinc instead? The latter makes more sense to me.
Edit: googled azithromycin for viruses -- looks like it has been shown to have antiviral effects as well! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4923851/
With regard to @LauraF and the post above, I can just tell you what I have been seeing in the German press. I saw that the German government has managed to acquire a large amount of Hydroxycholoroquine. They mentioned that it was a malaria drug that may have some value in treatment of Covid-19. However, they were not very specific about how. Since Germany is clearly not a place where malaria is present, they must have had a reason to buy a large amount. If I see anything else more specific, I’ll post again.
As far as ibuprofen, German media they said that there were rumors that ibuprofen wasn’t ideal for fever reduction for the virus but that they could not confirm that. I think they said if people were worried to just use paracetamol for fever reduction.
I hope that helps. Sometimes it is good to compare the information that everyone is getting to see what the common threads are.
Also somewhat skeptical, but the paper is linked below if you want to review. Covered 26 patients vs 19 as control group, they lost 6 patients from their experimental group in follow-up.
Like most science, I'll be interested to hear if other facilities can replicate it with more stringent controls and larger populations.
removed link
Kristen
@laura-f here are links to a few scientific articles RE the above. The first article addresses the following - Preliminary trials of chloroquine repurposing in the treatment of COVID-19 in China have been encouraging, leading to several new trials. Here we discuss the possible mechanisms of chloroquine interference with the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle.
The second article evaluated the antiviral efficiency of five FAD-approved drugs including ribavirin, penciclovir, nitazoxanide, nafamostat, chloroquine and two well-known broad-spectrum antiviral drugs remdesivir (GS-5734) and favipiravir (T-705) against a clinical isolate of 2019-nCoV in vitro
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924857920300881?via%3Dihub
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-020-0282-0
As a scientist, we rely on pubmed.gov as a source for peer-reviewed publications.
i love language. I love words. To me, all words are good and frankly, there’s a time and a place for profanity. Sometimes only a f bomb will do. My dear, beloved late mother would not be proud of me if I continue spouting off indiscriminately, though, and I do try to live my days in a way that would please her.
Much love to you, my beautiful friend.
As a person raised in the south, I was always told not to curse. However, during my time in Australia I learned the joy of using somewhat saltier language. It is a part of the culture and it does relieve stress to to drop a few f-bombs (among other things). It can also be used to make a point that cuts through when other things don’t work when used judiciously.