The corona virus appears to be seasonal. As with other flu-like viruses, corona goes into hay fever season, according to a new study by the Rotterdam Erasmus MEdical Center and the Jeroen Bosch Hospital. It would mean that hay fever patients are more resistant to corona. The bad news is that the virus returns from mid-August.
In May it goes away. The wisdom that applies to ordinary flu probably also applies to the coronavirus. Only: not the rising temperatures or decreasing humidity explain the downturn, but the increase in flower, tree and grass pollen. The more pollen that is so irritating to hay fever patients, the less chance coronavirus gets, a new associative study shows.
Pollen activates the immune response that also protects against flu-like viruses such as Covid-19. The connection was made and statistically substantiated by Martijn Hoogeveen, originally a neuro-immunologist, in daily life as a professor and entrepreneur in e-commerce. âFirst of all, pollen is antiviral in itself. They can bind or pack viruses, or strip the virus of its protective layer of fat. â
Trump just admitted he is taking hydroxychloroquine even though his own FDA has officially stated that the drug should not be taken except in a clinical or hospital setting with strict monitoring.
There is no evidence the drug prevents or treats COVID-19.
This is not a good summary of the study, in fact, it is erroneous in making assertions about coronavirus. The study hypothesizes pollen has a relationship to seasonal flus based on past flus and data ends in 2019âbut it doesnât make any rock hard statements on the coronavirus. As the last paragraph states:
âIt will require further research to understand whether the same inverse correlations are found in other countries with moderate climates, and whether pollen play a similar role in tropical countries as well. It is good to compare a variety of climatological diverse countries to check for meteorological variations regarding UV light, humidity and temperature. It is very interesting to understand whether also in other countries and years a PITV of around 70 pollen/m3 (±30) is found for moderate flu-like epidemics, and if this threshold value can be further understood in the light of the more aggressive Covid-19 pandemic. Further, it is good to understand better the interaction between aerosol pollen and flu-like viruses, and whether general immune responses are indeed a causal factor in reducing the spread of flu-like viruses. Finally, it still needs to be observed whether the covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2 virus) spread will be seasonal â âgoing away in Mayâ â whereby the pollen factor could be studied as a directly or indirectly inhibiting factor, potentially.â
The article does not mention whether this only works on the northern hemisphere were the pollen are a seasonal phenomenon. You are right, what about the rest of the world where it isnât seasonal.
You pretty much canât trust what anyone says about a paper without reading the paper itself. Even university press offices are guilty of (willfully or not) distorting and sensationalizing papers.
He would rather tell a lie than the truth no matter what the subject so his word on that is about as good as any and all others he has uttered. Next he will probably say he is mainlining Clorox but had to reduce the dose because it turned his face white.
While the US and China are in conflict about the origin of the virus, Europe, together with Japan and Canada, has raised money to develop a vaccine. Under the leadership of the European Commission, 40 countries, various organizations and individuals raised 7.4 billion euros on Monday for the development of a vaccine. The US and Russia did not participate.
Von der Leyen deposited 1.4 billion on behalf of the committee. France 1.5 billion. Germany, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Canada put around 500 million on the table. Japan nearly 800 million and the Netherlands 192 million. In total, forty countries, organizations and individuals contributed. For example, singer Madonna accounted for 1 million. The proceeds are for the development of a vaccine, a Covid-19 drug and the production of tests.
In the pre-Trump era, the US would have always been at the forefront of action like this. Now the American chair remained empty. Instead of demonstrating leadership in a multilateral fundraiser, the US has been in the news continuously over the past few days seeking confrontation with China about the origin of the virus.
Europe meanwhile tried to shape a kind of coalition of the willing for multilateral cooperation. While the US, China and Russia block each other in the Security Council and the US puts patriotism before globalism under Trump, it has been suggested to form opportunity coalitions of - preferably democratic - countries that do see something in global cooperation. The vaccine is very suitable for such an approach. Collaboration may lead to breakthroughs faster, is important in the large-scale production of a vaccine and necessary to ensure its distribution.