Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready

globalhealthnow.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 207 posts

Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready

#171

Post by agumonkey »

hhas01 wrote: post #161
agumonkey wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know where to ask.. is vaporized cbd helpful ? it's said to be a potent anti inflammatory compounds and also help cleansing cells through apoptosis.

Exercise due caution with regard to CBD, megadose Vit C, “MMS” (aka industrial bleach), etc, etc. The people advancing these miracle claims are almost always either indulging, selling, or both. Ego and money corrupt even good science when we let them; imagine what they do in presence of unquestioning, evangelical Beliefs. And they are out in force right now, putting even the most venal pharma corp to shame. Panic is…

this is unrelated to snake oil, also this was for people already infected to help SARS

also most readings on the topic are from ncbi/pubmed or springer books

Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready

#172

Post by Guidii »

tmalsburg2 wrote: post #169

China sent 90 tons of plasma to Italy? I don't understand. A ton is 1000 liters. A single blood donation is usually 500ml , not sure how much plasma that would produce. But this means that they had at least 180K donations which seem implausible. Could someone please explain?

Perhaps the plasma is packaged? I'd expect there'd be a fair amount (20-50%?) of non-plasma in those 90 tons.

Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready

#173

Post by agumonkey »

jeltz wrote: post #103
agumonkey wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know where to ask.. is vaporized cbd helpful ? it's said to be a potent anti inflammatory compounds and also help cleansing cells through apoptosis.

I am not a doctor but if it is indeed anti-inflammatory and causes apoptosis it sounds more likely to be harmful than to be helpful. I suspect apoptosis (or rather what happens is that cells get hijacked by the virus and then the immune systems kills the hijacked cells) is what causes most of the lung damage and inflammation is an important part of the response from the immune system so I would not mess with that mor…

good point, although reduce inflammation would clearly help respiratory distress.. I'll dig further

Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready

#174

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

hef19898 wrote: post #166
SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you say it's probably fake news? China's aid to Italy is well-documented and widely reported; do you know of other stories where the EU has provided a comparable amount of aid?

There is fine, but very important line between being unable to help and being unwilling to. Which makes propaganda so much more powerful.

It’s easier for China because they have supplies in abundance. But in for example the US, there’s no question of willingness vs. ability; each individual state is building up its own healthcare system, but things still cross state borders easily as needed.

The criticism isn’t, I don’t think, that the EU is being uncommonly cruel or heartless. It’s just that the EU isn’t a union. When the chips are down, when there’s some crisis that actually matters, other countries in the EU won’t make sacrifices for your sake. Which is fine, there’s no reason a trade organization shouldn’t have a flag or declare itself to be a single entity in economic rankings, but it means members need to be careful about how dependent they allow themselves to become.

Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready

#175

Post by [deleted] »

zzzcpan wrote: post #119
fulafel wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

N95 just means anything that can filter out 95% of nacl in a specific test, the implementation is not constrained to this type of fabric. There are other ways of doing it.

Right. I'd say polypropylene spunbond-meltblown-spunbond design is just a safe choice for non-reusable medical masks. It's not necessary, and especially for general population, for that just spunbond alone should be enough which is in abundance and there are other polymers too. And the masks should be treated as reusable outside of hospitals, polypropylene is safe to boil.

[deleted]

Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready

#176

Post by topologistics »

nikofeyn wrote: post #69
_bxg1 wrote: post #41

This crisis is the first event in my lifetime that's given me any optimism about our ability, as a global civilization, to solve problems and get things done. I don't feel like we've seen humanity at its best in several decades. Shame it always takes a catastrophe (and an immediate one at that; see climate change) to bring it out.

> This crisis is the first event in my lifetime that's given me any optimism about our ability, as a global civilization, to solve problems and get things done. would you mind elaborating? because i find it extremely difficult how one could hold such an optimistic and apparent naive opinion. from where i sit, this crisis is showing the exact opposite. there is very little international communication and cooperation,…

> if everyone on earth just sat still for a couple of weeks, this thing would just vanish.

Actually that in itself would cripple economies, despite being a really good idea (sitting still for a while I mean).

The whole world is operating under an economic paradigm that requires infinite growth forever; the model is decoupled from reality. If we all sat still for a couple weeks, everyone would be better off, but the economy would tank. Better get back to work!

Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready

#177

Post by cavisne »

JackeJR wrote: post #165
matwood wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're paying too much attention to Trump and politics. The people actually getting work done are cooperating and moving at a pace that has really never been done. The articles I've read and podcasts I've heard with scientist all echo the same sentiment. Ignore Trump and the politics, the science is happening at a pace unseen before. > the while thing has just been wave after wave of delayed and reactive acti…

I too share a dim view of the world's ability to work together. Even now when faced with such a disease that is essentially everyone's problem, countries first and foremost chose to safeguard their own interests at the expense of others. It is a situation where if we survive, we did so because we worked together and if we die, it is because we only cared for ourselves and nobody else. If course this is oversimplifyin…

I know it’s hard to believe but the regime (who any lift in sanctions would have to flow through) hates America enough to kill their own people.

https://twitter.com/ap/status/1241658649224925184?s=21

Aid is the only way to help Iran.

Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready

#178

Post by cavisne »

nikofeyn wrote: post #69
_bxg1 wrote: post #41

This crisis is the first event in my lifetime that's given me any optimism about our ability, as a global civilization, to solve problems and get things done. I don't feel like we've seen humanity at its best in several decades. Shame it always takes a catastrophe (and an immediate one at that; see climate change) to bring it out.

> This crisis is the first event in my lifetime that's given me any optimism about our ability, as a global civilization, to solve problems and get things done. would you mind elaborating? because i find it extremely difficult how one could hold such an optimistic and apparent naive opinion. from where i sit, this crisis is showing the exact opposite. there is very little international communication and cooperation,…

I would focus on the actual words and actions of decision makers at the state and federal level. The communication and collaboration is happening, agreed it’s still reactive.

At this point the media is in an abusive relationship with their audience, sitting around all day trying to think how they can scare them, leading to deeply dishonest headlines like this

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-21/nigeria-r...

Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready

#179

Post by matwood »

JackeJR wrote: post #165
matwood wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're paying too much attention to Trump and politics. The people actually getting work done are cooperating and moving at a pace that has really never been done. The articles I've read and podcasts I've heard with scientist all echo the same sentiment. Ignore Trump and the politics, the science is happening at a pace unseen before. > the while thing has just been wave after wave of delayed and reactive acti…

I too share a dim view of the world's ability to work together. Even now when faced with such a disease that is essentially everyone's problem, countries first and foremost chose to safeguard their own interests at the expense of others. It is a situation where if we survive, we did so because we worked together and if we die, it is because we only cared for ourselves and nobody else. If course this is oversimplifyin…

I view a pandemic like what happens in an airline emergency. The first thing you do is put on your own oxygen mask to make sure you are stabilized before helping others. It sounds selfish, but if the most powerful options lose control because they are busy helping others then they can cause everyone to lose.

Also, let me say that I'm not saying it's all rainbows and butterflies out there. I just think about all the things that were going to end humankind in my lifetime alone, yet here we are arguably in the best position we have ever been to fight something like this. As a kid we were genuinely afraid of nuclear war. Then there was the HIV epidemic. Y2K, tech bubble busting, 2008 financial crisis, and all the smaller things in between I'm forgetting about.

I look out and see the people on ground sharing information, being incredibly cooperative, and trying to stabilize their situation so then they can effectively help others. That is why I'm optimistic we'll work through this.

Re: Covid-19’s stop-gap solution until vaccines and antivirals are ready

#180

Post by javagram »

martinpw wrote: post #45
javagram wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Screening is not perfect. https://www.redcrossblood.org/faq.html#eligibility-medicaltr... “ You may not donate if you received a blood transfusion since 1980 in the United Kingdom or France (The United Kingdom consists of the following countries: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar or Falkland Islands). This requirement is related to concerns about variant CJD, or 'mad…

That is interesting. I have always been told it was stricter than that - basically this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1116429/ The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has imposed a ban on blood donations from anyone who has spent more than six months in Britain from 1980 to 1997 because of the possible risk of transmitting the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as variant Creutzfe…

Looking at the Red Cross page there is a separate travel section which says “ Persons who have spent long periods of time in countries where "mad cow disease" is found are not eligible to donate. This requirement is related to concerns about variant Creutzfeld Jacob Disease (vCJD). See - Eligibility Reference Material“

So i think there is a travel restriction and a transfusion restriction which are independent.

Post reply on HN