13/04/2020
I would like to share with you some questions and ideas I have about how we are responding to Coronavirus.
What research is being done to find out what makes some people with Coronavirus asymptomatic? As a community pharmacist I am always surprised at the number of patients of all ages that say they don’t ever suffer from colds or flu.
How much research is being done to see what might be protecting them?
When patients test positive with no symptoms for Coronavirus are we taking a full history, examination and blood analysis or are we just sending them home to self isolate?
Medical professionals are trained to focus their expertise and resources on people that are in the greatest need. However although they are not ill and do not require intervention we ignore these people at our peril. Imagine if we could obtain enough data from these asymptomatic patients to identify some common factors that may give protection from the worst symptoms of Coronavirus and possibly other infections.
We could look at many factors including:
Biochemistry results
Vitamin levels eg Vitamin D and C
Mineral levels eg Selenuim and Zinc
Full blood analysis
Genetics
Ethnicity
Hormone levels
Height
Weight
Peak Flow
Blood Pressure
Normal body temperature
Fitness
Work
Sleep patterns
Smoking
Alcohol
Medication
Vaccination history
Previous infections and circulating antibodies
Etc etc
We need to start collecting and analysing this data now all around the world in order to develop our understanding. Protective factors might be found quickly and acted on to reduce the severity of disease for existing and future patients with Coronavirus. However even if it takes much longer to find protective factors it could be beneficial for future prevention of serious disease.
At the present there is a lot of speculation about ethnicity being a factor in developing severe disease. If for example we found that these groups had low Vitamin D and that having a good Vitamin D level was protective we could possibly boost their levels and possibly reduce the severity of their symptoms. Also more men seem to have severe symptoms then women. If we found certain hormone levels were protective we could possibly manipulate these and reduce severity of symptoms.
And there is evidence that lowering your temperature when you have a fever with antipyretics like paracetamol can reduce your ability to fight infections. Is there any evidence that this is happening with Coronavirus?
It could be 12 months before we have a vaccine so we need to find anything that can help patients now. The time to do the research is now.
Unlike other countries we are not testing enough people with Coronavirus and we are testing hardly any that are asymptomatic. So not only do we fail to stop asymptomatic people spreading Coronavirus but we also fail to identify any factors that could help reduce the severity of disease.
Finally why aren’t our experts advocating face masks or face visors which could reduce the spread of this virus. If Boris Johnson and his team had worn face protection and practiced distancing they would have reduced the chance of infection. It is not acceptable to keep saying that personal protection equipment should only be used by medical staff. Everyone has a role in reducing the spread of this virus.
Please look at the following links
Masks4all
https://youtu.be/HhNo_IOPOtU
Make your own Face Sheild
https://youtu.be/HHUrSX2cJyA
Medcram Coronavirus
https://youtu.be/o8aG63yigjA.
https://youtu.be/EFRwnhfWXxo
Dr Campbell
https://youtu.be/md6BGwGnekw
https://youtu.be/ycf6bAMKgjg
https://youtu.be/W5yVGmfivAk
Thank you for reading this. Keep Safe.
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