Nicotine has been shown to help stop a cytokine storm, fwiw

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article....

Two things - one on topic one off.

There is something else this virus does that is exceedingly dangerous - it attacks the testes in men.

Testicular lesions are what the Chinese have seen - and possible long term infertility - which will be a plus for China long term - not so much for young men in the rest of the world.

https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-scienti....

Quote:

"Clinicians should pay attention to the risk of testicular lesions in patients during hospitalization and later clinical follow-up, especially the assessment and appropriate intervention in young patients' fertility," they wrote.

The scientists said they were interested in exploring whether COVID-19 has the potential to harm the urinary and male reproductive systems after some patients were found to have abnormal kidney function and damage, in addition to the expected problems with the respiratory system.

The second thing - off topic - the Saudi's on Saturday reacted to the OPEC+ meeting disaster by announcing that they will be slashing their crude price to up to $10 BELOW the Brent price and increasing production about 25%. This is primarily seen as a shot at Russia and the shale oil guys in the USA.

There will undoubtedly be some big hedge funds long from the $49 price early last week and one would reasonably expect complete chaos on the markets come this afternoon when they open for pajama trading.

Also FYI - I do not believe that there has ever been a successful vaccine developed for a coronavirus caused disease.

So if the CDC pulls it off that should be a first.

Great ticker, thank you.

@Karl - Ever read Nick Lane - mitochondria guy, great theories on the origins of life,e etc? Can't remember which book (Vital Question maybe) but he lays out a very similar theory of chronic disease, only he take this idea down to the mitochondria level. Calls it the energy threshold of disease, if I remember right.

Reading your ticker made me think of this and the fractal design of Nature. Fascinating.

What on earth makes you think the drug companies want to develop a vaccine that works? Something marginally effective they can try and force on billions of people for years is much better.

"I do not believe that there has ever been a successful vaccine developed for a coronavirus caused disease."

No, but that's partly because funding for SARS vaccines was pulled when SARS went away. We don't know whether a successful SARS vaccine could have been created, and if it had, we'd likely have a vaccine for this one by now.

Some Germans have claimed that an existing drug that's used in Japan for a different illness seems to significantly reduce the impact of this virus by preventing it from spreading in the body. So if it goes into decline for the summer and comes back in the winter we may at least have an effective treatment by then which doesn't require ICU care.

How North hemispheric of you

I must live in a different world with young men. I am surrounded by a very large Mexican/Russian Mennonite community. At 13 boys go to work. Everything they make goes to dad. By 18 most are self sufficient and by their mid 20's either are farming or have started their own business.
Most of the Anglo/2nd generation Latino males tend to either try college or go to the oilfield. Not uncommon for a 22 year old to be able to knock down $100K. When you do that your working a lot of 7-12's. I work with a Jr.college welding program. There are around 110 slots per semester and all are full. You screw off, you are gone. One and two year certificate programs have a 100% job placement within 3 months of completion.
These young people think and learn different than the previous generation. And definitely different than us Boomers.
But they are bright, smart and as aggressive for the $$$'s as I ever was.
Is there lazy no-good dip chits here?
Sure. But as an old guy recovering welder I hope to see these guys when they hit their stride in 10 to 15 years.

Good point :).

The southern hemisphere doesn't seem to have been doing too badly so far, aside from Australians fighting over toilet paper. Hopefully they may be able to control any spread through their winter.

Quote:

I am curious how being adjusted to high altitude would affect this. I normally am at 8000 ft and on the rare occasions when I go to sea level, everything is tremendously easier because of the extra oxygen.

It does make a difference in terms of your respiratory conditioning, but you'll only see the benefit if your "high altitude conditioned" lungs are living in a low altitude environment. Your respiratory condition might be in better shape, but if your are living in a high altitude atmosphere, your better than average conditioning will be mitigated by thinner than average oxygen. You only get the benefit if you condition at high altitude, and then live and work at low altitude.

Mountaineers know about this benefit and try to maximize it by a maxim called "work high, and sleep low". If you are working AND sleeping at high altitude, the benefit is not realized.

Dadgummet!! My first ignore also but I changed my mind.....could be another interesting candidate for that large and heavy object that our host carries around in his....um...tool box

Bjonsson,
Thanks, that makes sense.

Workerbee wrote..

Nicotine has been shown to help stop a cytokine storm, fwiw

As a former smoker, who's still a nicotine addict, I find that quite interesting.

We know the average person is pretty uninformed and scared. They're going to develop a bad cough from a cold/seasonal flu and then worry they are infected with coronavirus. Emergency rooms are going to be overwhelmed by these people.

hi thank you for letting me register to your forum
I found this post very informative and it really dials in the determination factors for successfully surviving the disease. I have had a cough for the last 3 or 4 weeks, it started with a 3 day flu and a low level pneumonia. I have felt fine but self quarantined myself. I have been taking supplements that work really well. One of them is called NAC

N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19....

another one, I stopped taking because I do not need it is called Nitazoxanide
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article....

That and Oil of Oregano and Garlic.

for whatever reason Vitamin D and C make me feel worse. my medical conditions are unique. But essentially I came here to say that NAC has been kind of a magic bullet. Not trying to shill supplements or anything.

I am going to print this article out and show it to a few friends. Thanks

NAC is a good way to get a limiting ingredient to Glutathione.

Glutithione is manufactured inside the cell and used to 'clean it' from the inside out (one-way).

Karl was right again.
Some companies are implementing pandemic planning Friday after "regular" employees left.

@Oregondave @Lemonaid
NAC is also the antidote to Tylenol poisoning as Tylenol depletes the body store of glutathione and is hepatotoxic above 4000 mg daily.