Covid-19 Madness

You got a degree in Science I would assume. covid is a coronavirus. Coronaviruses destroys the lungs.

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So is the common cold (and SARS of course)

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Cold is rhinovirus

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Yes, I should have said coronavirus are among the many types that can cause a cold.

The common cold is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. The most commonly implicated virus is a rhinovirus (30ā€“80%), a type of picornavirus with 99 known serotypes.[29][30] Other commonly implicated viruses include human coronavirus (ā‰ˆ 15%),[31][32] influenza viruses (10ā€“15%),[33] adenoviruses (5%),[33] human respiratory syncytial virus (orthopneumovirus), enteroviruses other than rhinoviruses, human parainfluenza viruses, and human metapneumovirus.[34] Frequently more than one virus is present.[35] In total, more than 200 viral types are associated with colds.[3]

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Sounds great guy. You go get yourself a wicked case of this new strain and tell us how it goes.

I just donā€™t understand the point of not being overly cautious and concerned for society as a whole. What is gained? Just hunker down, ride it out, and let the professionals give us the verdict after the smoke clears.

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COVID-19 is the name of the DISEASE caused by the novel (first described and named in late 2019) species of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. So this pandemic is properly referred to as the COVID-19 epidemic (caused by SARS-CoV-2). Just like the 1918 Influenza epidemic was (later learned to be) cause by the H1N1 influenza virus.

The realm of RNA viruses includes MANY known coronaviruses, some known by their diseases to clinicians (especially veterinarians) long before their causative virus was identified or characterized. Consult the Wikipedia article on coronaviruses for a good summary and pay special attention to the ā€œTaxonomyā€ section.

Chronic (ā€œpermanentā€ your term) lung impairment from SARS-CoV (ā€œSARSā€) and MERS-CoV (ā€œMERSā€) has definitely been reported IN SOME CASES. What we are dealing with in the COVID-19 outbreak is a NEW SPECIES from this family of viruses. That distinct speciation is shown by RNA sequencing of the virus genome and confirmed by the fact that the clinical presentation DIFFERS in a NUMBER of ways from ANY previously known coronavirus.

Since the first survivors of the COVID-19 pandemic have not been around nearly long enough to confirm (or refute) the concern about POSSIBLE chronic lung impairment, your statement is HIGHLY SPECULATIVE, and frankly smacks of a whiff of hysteria! Of course it is possible that some survivors will suffer exactly that but it is WAY TOO SOON TO KNOW!

Your statement ā€œcoronaviruses destroys (sic) the lungsā€ lacks so much qualification as to be meaningless except to inspire fear (perhaps equal to your own) in a reader. Iā€™m sure we both hope it turns out to be rare if true at all.

William J. Prendergast, M.D.
Portland, OR
Univ. of OR Medical School, 1967 (magna cum laude)
I hold the US Merchant Marine License as SURGEON and served on active duty in the USPHS from 1968-1970.

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I frankly donā€™t understand your response at all. My personal situation, age & health-wise makes it very likely that I donā€™t have to worry about ā€œchronic anythingā€ if I acquire this virus. I was responding to what I consider a very irresponsible and unnecessary comment predicting that victims of this virus will suffer chronic lung damage. My personal opinion, based on my current reading of the medical literature (which is changing daily) is that such an outcome will be very rare with this virus. But thatā€™s JUST MY OPINION, which is all we are getting from ANYONE (even Dr Fauci) at this time. I totally agree that we should be exercising the greatest of precautions to try to avoid this infection. But the truth is, MANY have and will acquire it, and it is quite unwarranted (at this point anyway) to be adding to their concerns with the boogey-man of ā€œchronic lung damageā€.

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Not my statement, Doctor. :slight_smile: And Iā€™m not scared, although Iā€™m in a 6%+ demographic. Time enough to get scared if/when I catch it. Meantime Iā€™m staying inside like a good little high-risk prospective patient until CDC tells me otherwise.

dbeierl:
I have to sincerely apologize, especially since there was a degree of ā€œenergyā€ in my post. I was INTENDING to respond to the post of another who was sort of casually tossing out the prediction of ā€œpermanent lung damageā€ just because this was a coronavirus. Somehow, I guess I clicked on the wrong ā€œreplyā€ on the page and it got your name on it instead. I really detest that kind of fear mongering during a pandemic situation like we have. Bad enough but maybe necessary if itā€™s the known truth. But when it is only a SPECULATION based on tenuous connections, it is BULLSHIT!! Plenty of common colds caused by coronaviruses with no lung damage at all. There are SOME THINGS about the epidemiological and clinical picture of THIS virus that are more suggestive of COMMON COLD than of ā€œSARSā€ or ā€œMERSā€. That is one reason why SOME people prematurely predicted that about this virus in the very early stages. For one thing, itā€™s ability to survive outside the body, spread rapidly and tenaciously bind to its receptors is suggestive of some ā€œcoldā€ viruses. But THAT is ONLY OPINION at this point and not supported by any scientific data, just like most things about the SARS-CoV-2 virus caused COVID-19 pandemic.

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No sweat. I understood.

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It seems we all are affected by the corona virus and have survived! So it is time to stop this social distancing nonsense and go back to normal!

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In SOME parts of the country, where the infection rate is low, it SHOULD be possible to shift from this ā€œmitigationā€ (shutdown) strategy back to a LOCALIZED strategy of ā€œcontainmentā€ (identify all cases, identify all their contacts, TEST all their contacts and QUARANTINE everyone who poses a risk of spread). A mitigation type approach (self-isolation, social distancing) should prudently STILL apply to ā€œhigh riskā€ people who have never tested positive in those areas. But at least the majority of the population could get back toward normal and save our nation from economic collapse! That is what they were alluding to in the part of the White House briefing I caught today. Apparently NOT decided yet, but thatā€™s the way sensible people seem to be leaning. Iā€™m afraid, however, that itā€™s too late for areas like New York and New Orleans, for 2 examples, to do that. They are going to have to gut it out with mitigation/shutdown. The inability of the US to practice nationwide containment comes down to a failure of planning to have mass testing capacity in place, because testing is the key to containment.

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Heiwa, this quote is from you, from your website (I forget the nameā€“was it nutjobkrazypants. com?) :crazy_face:

ā€œNo atomic bombs ever exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 1945. News about 100 000ā€™s of Japanese being vaporized in a nanoseconds FLASH and disappearing in thin air or slowly being killed by nuclear radiation during several months afterwards autumn 1945 at various Japanese hospitals were just Fake News and propaganda!ā€

No sane person would trust you to peel a banana, let alone consult on health safety.

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Someone paid attention in Biology. :pray:

I think the good Doctor is asking for human trials and cohort studies and volunteers to prove or disprove this hypothesis while rest of us are trying to stay healthy and not get this.

People only live or die once while countless Statistical studies can be done and ran thru SAS, R, some Python package and signed by others who joined the academic paper writing experiences and spin it all sorts of ways after the act. Doesnā€™t mean everyone wants to he a number in this study and live with the downside risk for rest of their lives.

Animals can get it too as there are cases where human to dog and cat transmissions have occured. The good Doctor probably wants a bunch of humans who are sick to be stuck in a room with dogs and cats and see how many of them die after getting infected. This isnā€™t some studies done by certain Germans in World War II. These are real lives here with family, kids, and loved ones. Leave the playing Doctor part to way more qualified individuals that are busy working on this that will never frequent forums and of course once they are done everyone else will know after the fact. Only MD, no PhD? Let someone else do the work and draw conclusions.

That chart shows the death count for influenza at the end of the flu season which lasts a full year.

That chart is showing the COVID19 death count after the first few weeks. Thereā€™s still eleven months to go in this inaugural COVID season.

Your account is obviously a troll.

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My thoughts exactly when I first saw it yesterday. I was thinking that the methodology of the post was reminiscent of the misinformation spread of 2016. The graph looks home made, although supposedly attributed to the CDC. A hit and run post.

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So, you would suggest that Dr. Fauci retire from the field? He is without doubt the single MOST distinguished clinical AND laboratory scientist in the entire field of human viral infectious disease, as well as having numerous enormous achievements in the field of auto-immune disease. But the poor guy probably should ā€œleave the playing Doctor part to way more qualified individualsā€ (to quote YOU) since he IS ā€œOnly MD, no PhDā€ (to further quote you!)

My father-in-law was an academic, university professor and department head who loved to explain that his ā€œPhDā€ stood for ā€œpiled higher and deeperā€ because a PhD is awarded for RESEARCH which means in all but the rare case, turning out a thesis that will sit on the library shelves untouched for many years. Now I wouldnā€™t want anyone to think I take anything away from the MANY extremely talented clinical scientists who are dual degree MD-PhDs! They worked VERY hard to add that extra level of research qualification to their resumes so that they could work in research areas and be considered peers of the other pure science PhDs. We couldnā€™t get along without them. But the Dr. Faucis of the medical world are a good example of the fact that the letters behind a guys name donā€™t stand for much once heā€™s out there doing the work.

By the way fella, I showed mine, so letā€™s see how big YOURS is!

It is not a 20 times greater than flu mortality rate. Not even close, its about 4 times greater, on a world scale, and about .85% greater on the US scale currently.
Flu shots only protect against certain strains. The worst flu I ever had was in 2018 on the USNS Bob Hope in Everett Washington. Had the flu shot about 6 weeks before joining her.

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How can anybody say what it is? Until there is widespread testing we have no idea how many cases we even have.

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