Coronavirus & the Gates Foundation - William Engdahl; Olive Leaf remedy
for Coronavirus
Newsletter published on March 23, 2020
(1) Coronavirus and the Gates Foundation, by F. William Engdahl
(2) Economist endorses CQ HCQ & Kaletra cures for COVID-19, because
'Medicines designed to treat COVID-19 won't be on pharmacy shelves for
months or even years'
(3) NYT dismisses chloroquine cure for COVID-19
(4) NYT: Trump's Embrace of Unproven Drugs to Treat Coronavirus Defies
Science
(5) WaPo: Hospitals and doctors are wiping out supplies of an unproven
coronavirus treatment
(6) WaPo: Trump calls anti-malaria drug a 'game-changer' for
coronavirus, but FDA says it needs study
(7) Olive Leaf cure for coronavirus?
(8) Olive Leaf ingredient oleuropein acts as an antiviral agent
(9) Ole and HT may be useful against other viruses ... including severe
acute respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus
(10) Urology site endorses natural treatment: How Viruses Work and How
to Prevent and Eliminate Them
(1) Coronavirus and the Gates Foundation, by F. William Engdahl
Note that Engdahl does NOT say that the Globalists, who ran a similation
of a pandemic, actually CAUSED the Covid-19 pandemic by planting the
virus in Wuhan - as do some writers at Global Research. - Peter M.
18.03.2020
Author: F. William Engdahl
Coronavirus and the Gates Foundation
Arguably, no one has been more active in promoting and funding research
on vaccines aimed at dealing with coronavirus than Bill Gates and the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. From sponsoring a simulation of a
coronavirus global pandemic, just weeks before the Wuhan outbreak was
announced, to funding numerous corporate efforts to come up with a novel
vaccine for the apparently novel virus, the Gates presence is there.
What does it actually entail?
We must admit that at the very least Bill Gates is prophetic. He has
claimed for years that a global killer pandemic will come and that we
are not prepared for it. On March 18, 2015 Gates gave a TED talk on
epidemics in Vancouver. That day he wrote on his blog, "I just gave a
brief talk on a subject that I've been learning a lot about
lately—epidemics. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a tragedy—as I
write this, more than 10,000 people have died." Gates then added, "As
awful as this epidemic has been, the next one could be much worse. The
world is simply not prepared to deal with a disease—an especially
virulent flu, for example—that infects large numbers of people very
quickly. Of all the things that could kill 10 million people or more, by
far the most likely is an epidemic."
That same year, 2015, Bill Gates wrote an article for the New England
Journal of Medicine titled, "The Next Epidemic: Lessons from Ebola."
There he spoke of a special class of drugs that "involves giving
patients a set of particular RNA-based constructs that enables them to
produce specific proteins (including antibodies).Although this is a very
new area, it is promising because it is possible that a safe therapy
could be designed and put into large-scale manufacture fairly rapidly.
More basic research as well as the progress of companies like Moderna
and CureVac could eventually make this approach a key tool for stopping
epidemics." Moderna and CureVac both today receive funds from the Gates
Foundation and are leading the race to develop an approved COVID-19
vaccine based on mRNA.
2017 and Founding of CEPI
A global flu-like pandemic in fact is something that Gates and his
well-endowed foundation have spent years preparing for. In 2017 during
the Davos World Economic Forum, Gates initiated something called CEPI,
the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, together with the
governments of Norway, India, Japan, and Germany, along with the
Wellcome Trust of the UK. Its stated purpose is to "accelerate the
development of vaccines we'll need to contain outbreaks" of future
epidemics. He noted at the time that "One promising area of vaccine
development research is using advances in genomics to map the DNA and
RNA of pathogens and make vaccines." We will return to that.
Event 201
By 2019 Bill Gates and the foundation were going full-tilt boogie with
their pandemic scenarios. He made a Netflix video which made an eerie
imaginary scenario. The video, part of the "Explained" series, imagined
a wet market in China where live and dead animals are stacked and a
highly deadly virus erupts that spreads globally. Gates appears as an
expert in the video to warn, "If you think of anything that could come
along that would kill millions of people, a pandemic is our greatest
risk." He said if nothing was done to better prepare for pandemics, the
time would come when the world would look back and wish it had invested
more into potential vaccines. That was weeks before the world heard
about bats and a live wet market in Wuhan China.
In October, 2019 the Gates Foundation teamed up with the World Economic
Forum and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security to enact what
they called a "fictional" scenario simulation involving some of the
world's leading figures in public health. It was titled Event 201.
As their website describes it, Event 201 simulated an "outbreak of a
novel zoonotic coronavirus transmitted from bats to pigs to people that
eventually becomes efficiently transmissible from person to person,
leading to a severe pandemic. The pathogen and the disease it causes are
modeled largely on SARS, but it is more transmissible in the community
setting by people with mild symptoms."
In the Event 201 scenario the disease originates at a pig farm in
Brazil, spreading through low-income regions and ultimately explodes
into an epidemic. The disease is carried by air travel to Portugal, the
USA and China and beyond to the point no country can control it. The
scenario posits no possible vaccine being available in the first year.
"Since the whole human population is susceptible, during the initial
months of the pandemic, the cumulative number of cases increases
exponentially, doubling every week."
The scenario then ends after 18 months when the fictional coronavirus
has caused 65 million deaths. "The pandemic is beginning to slow due to
the decreasing number of susceptible people. The pandemic will continue
at some rate until there is an effective vaccine or until 80-90 % of the
global population has been exposed."
Event 201 Players
As interesting as the prescient Gates-Johns Hopkins Event 201 fictional
scenario of October, 2019 may be, the list of panelists who were invited
to participate in the imaginary global response is equally interesting.
Among the selected "players" as they were called, was George Fu Gao.
Notably, Prof. Gao is director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control
and Prevention since 2017. His specialization includes research on
"influenza virus interspecies transmission (host jump)… He is also
interested in virus ecology, especially the relationship between
influenza virus and migratory birds or live poultry markets and the
bat-derived virus ecology and molecular biology." Bat-derived virus ecology…
Prof. Gao was joined among others at the panel by the former Deputy
Director of the CIA during the Obama term, Avril Haines. She also served
as Obama's Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National
Security Advisor. Another of the players at the Gates event was Rear
Admiral Stephen C. Redd, Director of the Office of Public Health
Preparedness and Response at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC). The same CDC is at the center of a huge scandal for
not having adequate functioning tests available for testing cases of
COVID-19 in the USA. Their preparedness was anything but laudable.
Rounding out the group was Adrian Thomas, the Vice President of
scandal-ridden Johnson & Johnson, the giant medical and pharmaceutical
company. Thomas is responsible for pandemic preparedness at J&J
including developing vaccines for Ebola, Dengue Fever, HIV. And there
was Martin Knuchel, Head of Crisis, Emergency & Business Continuity
Management, for Lufthansa Group Airlines. Lufthansa has been one of the
major airlines dramatically cutting flights during the COVID-19 pandemic
crisis.
All this shows that Bill Gates has had a remarkable preoccupation with
the possibility of a global pandemic outbreak he said could be even
larger than the alleged deaths from the mysterious 1918 Spanish Flu, and
has been warning for at least the past five years or more. What the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation also has been involved in is funding
development of new vaccines using bleeding-edge CRISPR gene-editing and
other technologies.
The Coronavirus Vaccines
Gates Foundation money is backing vaccine development on every front.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals of Pennsylvania received $9 million from the
Gates-backed CEPI, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, to
develop a vaccine, INO-4800, which is about to test on humans in April,
a suspiciously rapid time frame. In addition Gates Foundation just gave
the company an added $5 million to develop a proprietary smart device
for intradermal delivery of the new vaccine.
In addition Gates Foundation monies via CEPI are financing development
of a radical new vaccine method known as messengerRNA or mRNA.
They are co-funding the Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech company,
Moderna Inc., to develop a vaccine against the Wuhan novel coronavirus,
now called SARS-CoV-2. Moderna's other partner is the US National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH). Head of NIAID is Dr Anthony Fauci,
the person at the center of the Trump Administration virus emergency
response. Notable about the Fauci-Gates Moderna coronavirus vaccine,
mRNA-1273, is that it has been rolled out in a matter of weeks, not
years, and on February 24 went directly to Fauci's NIH for tests on
human guinea pigs, not on mice as normal. Moderna's chief medical
adviser, Tal Zaks, argued, "I don't think proving this in an animal
model is on the critical path to getting this to a clinical trial."
Another notable admission by Moderna on its website is the legal
disclaimer, "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: …These
risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, among others: … the
fact that there has never been a commercial product utilizing mRNA
technology approved for use." In other words, completely unproven for
human health and safety.
Another biotech company working with unproven mRNA technology to develop
a vaccine for the COVID-19 is a German company, CureVac. Since 2015
CureVac has received money from the Gates Foundation to develop its own
mRNA technology. In January the Gates-backed CEPI granted more than $8
million to develop a mRNA vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
Add to this the fact that the Gates Foundation and related entities such
as CEPI constitute the largest funders of the public-private entity
known as WHO, and that its current director, Tedros Adhanom, the first
WHO director in history not a medical doctor, worked for years on HIV
with the Gates Foundation when Tedros was a government minister in
Ethiopia, and we see that there is practically no area of the current
coronavirus pandemic where the footprints of the omnipresent Gates are
not to be found. If that is to the good of mankind or grounds to be
worried, time will tell.
(2) Economist endorses CQ HCQ & Kaletra cures for COVID-19, because
'Medicines designed to treat COVID-19 won't be on pharmacy shelves for
months or even years'
Coronavirus drugs: Where we are and what we know
Chloroquine and HydroxyChloroquine tablets
By AMINA KHANSTAFF WRITER
MARCH 21, 2020 11:30 AM
Medicines designed to treat COVID-19 won't be on pharmacy shelves for
months or even years, but thousands of patients are in hospitals and
health clinics now. So doctors are looking to drugs that are already
approved for treating other diseases.
Malaria, HIV and arthritis wouldn't seem to have much in common with
SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that has upended the world in just a
few short months. But medicines developed for those ailments are showing
some promise against the respiratory illness at the center of the pandemic.
Here's a closer look at some of the medicines being tested to see if
they're effective against COVID-2.
Chloroquine
This drug has been used to treat patients with malaria for nearly a
century. It is a synthetic version of quinine, a natural compound that
people have been extracting from the bark of cinchona trees since the
early 1600s.
Chloroquine works by essentially slowing down how efficient the virus is
at entering cells, which can slow the rate of replication, said Karla
Satchell, a microbiologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of
Medicine. To fight malaria, it essentially helps poison the digestive
system of some blood parasites in the genus Plasmodium that are spread
to humans through infected mosquitoes.
COVID-19 is caused by a coronavirus, not a parasite. Still, researchers
hypothesized that Chloroquine could help patients with the new disease
by slowing the virus' spread. It basically works by curtailing the
virus' ability to use certain compartments in a cell (called vacuoles)
to get itself inside its target. It's like having an extra bolt on your
front door, but it doesn't keep the pathogen from kicking the door down.
Think of it as "flattening the curve" inside the body, giving the immune
system time to catch up.
About two dozen clinical trials are already underway in China to test
Chloroquine's efficacy against the novel coronavirus. Early results show
that it seemed to cut down the virus' rate of replication. Some
researchers have suggested that its ability to modulate the immune
system's behavior may allow it to mitigate so-called cytokine storms, a
potentially deadly overreaction to the disease that can result in organ
failure.
Chloroquine has several built-in advantages. It's already known to be
safe in humans (though it can result in poisoning at overdose levels).
It's cheap. It has a backer in President Trump, who on Thursday asked
the Food and Drug Administration to examine its feasibility as a
COVID-19 treatment. And in preclinical research, it's been shown to be
effective against viral infections such as severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and HIV.
HydroxyChloroquine
As you may guess, this drug is closely related to Chloroquine. It's a
potentially less toxic metabolite of the malaria drug that's used to
treat certain autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Scientists think it works by disrupting communications between cells in
the immune system. Like Chloroquine, scientists suspect it might help to
mitigate cytokine storms.
Doctors are testing it in COVID-19 patients on the theory that if
Chloroquine is helpful, HydroxyChloroquine might be too, and recent lab
results seem to back that up. At least seven clinical trials have begun
in China to test HydroxyChloroquine in patients with COVID-19, and the
University of Minnesota also launched one of its own this week.
"After 90 days we will have some indication of whether this is effective
or not," and how effective it could be, said Dr. Jakub Tolar, dean of
the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Early results in China are promising, showing that it inhibited
SARS-COV-2 infections in the lab.
Like Chloroquine, HydroxyChloroquine has already been established as
safe for use in humans — it's been on the market since the 1950s.
Trump's request that the FDA investigate Chloroquine included
HydroxyChloroquine as well. On Saturday, he tweeted out an endorsement
of a preliminary report from France in which six patients received
HydroxyChloroquine along with the antibiotic azithromycin.
Kaletra
This combination of two antiviral drugs, lopinavir and ritonavir, is
used to combat HIV. It's widely available, and several clinical trials
around the world are underway.
The two drugs, both protease inhibitors, have different but
complementary roles when used in combination. Lopinavir prevents viral
enzymes from cutting up important proteins that are key to HIV's
reproduction. Ritonavir helps boost lopinavir's concentrations in cells.
Scientists wondered whether the pair might be able to disrupt
SARS-COV-2's life cycle in similar ways.
But a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine
reported no benefit for patients with severe COVID-19. While that's not
great news for the drug's prospects, an editorial accompanying the paper
called the work a "heroic effort." And, to be clear, it was just one
study; other trials could eventually provide further insight.
Remdesivir
This drug was developed by Gilead Sciences to fight Ebola but failed to
prove effective. Still, remdesivir has since been shown to have some
effect against both MERS and SARS in cell lines and limited animal
testing, and since those diseases are caused by coronaviruses, it may
have some effect against the one that causes COVID-19.
Exactly how remdesivir works has been unclear, though a new study shows
that it appears to block RNA replication during the reproductive cycle
of a coronavirus.
It was given to the first COVID-19 patient in the United States for
compassionate use after his condition took a turn for the worse, and he
began to recover the next day, according to a case study published in
the New England Journal of Medicine. Whether the drug was actually
responsible for any of that improvement is unknown.
Several clinical trials in the works should provide some answers. A
clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has
already launched at several locations in the U.S., including the
University of Nebraska, the University of Minnesota and UC Irvine.
"Although remdesivir has been administered to some patients with
COVID-19, we do not have solid data to indicate it can improve clinical
outcomes," Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the NIAID, said in a statement.
These clinical trials would offer some solid data as to whether it
really works.
Losartan
This hypertension drug reduces blood pressure by preventing a hormone
called angiotensin from binding to receptors on blood vessels, allowing
them to stay relaxed.
Scientists hypothesized that losartan might help patients with COVID-19
because, as an angiotensin receptor blocker, it obstructs the site
through which the virus gets into the cells, Tolar said.
This drug rounds out the trifecta of treatments that University of
Minnesota researchers are putting through clinical trials; they have not
yet started recruiting subjects, according to the NIH.
Other approaches
Repurposing drugs that are already on the market (or at least, proven
safe) makes for a good first step in fighting a novel virus, but it's
something of a blunt instrument, scientists pointed out.
That's why researchers are also studying the virus in depth to try to
develop more tailored treatments from the bottom up — or at least, from
a little closer to ground level.
Satchell's center is taking this route, studying the virus' proteins and
other structures in depth and designing drugs to combat it. Currently,
they're targeting the molecular factories that viruses set up to
manufacture more copies of themselves.
"If you just walked up to a machine and stuck a screwdriver in it
somewhere, it would stop working," she said. The trick is to figure out
where to stick the screwdriver, and what it should look like. "And
that's what we're trying to find."
The advantage here is that you get a drug that does essentially exactly
what you want it to do. The drawback is that scientists have to start
from the ground up, so getting a drug to the public may take a little
longer — perhaps two years, Satchell estimated.
Luckily, scientists can also draw on research into other coronaviruses,
such as those that caused the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the MERS
outbreak in 2012. Those events came and went so quickly that promising
research was largely dropped before drugs could be developed and made
available.
Since all three coronaviruses are genetically very similar, that
preliminary work could give scientists a leg up in developing weapons
against COVID-19 and shorten the process to around 12 to 18 months,
Satchell said.
Continuing this research even after the current pandemic ends will be
key to help prevent future outbreaks, she said.
After all, consider the discontinued research into SARS and MERS. If
that work had resulted in effective drugs, we might have a treatment for
COVID-19 today, she pointed out. Similarly, the work being done on
SARS-CoV-2 could prove useful when future outbreaks hit, even if the
pathogens causing them are slightly different.
"I hope one of the lessons that we have from this is that research
should keep going even if the crisis goes away," she said.
(3) NYT dismisses chloroquine cure for COVID-19
With Minimal Evidence, Trump Asks F.D.A. to Study Malaria Drugs for
Coronavirus
The use of the existing drugs against the new virus is unproven, and
some shortages have already been reported.
By Denise Grady and Katie Thomas
Published March 19, 2020 Updated March 20, 2020
President Trump on Thursday exaggerated the potential of drugs available
to treat the new coronavirus, including an experimental antiviral
treatment and decades-old malaria remedies that hint of promise but so
far show limited evidence of healing the sick.
No drug has been approved to treat the new coronavirus, and doctors
around the world have been desperately administering an array of
medicines in search of something to help patients, especially those who
are severely ill.
The malaria drugs, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, are among the
remedies that have been tried in several countries as the virus has
spread around the world, killing at least 9,800.
Both drugs have gone into short supply in the United States this month,
as word has spread of their potential benefit to coronavirus patients.
Manufacturers of the generic products have said they are ramping up
production. One company, Teva, said it would donate millions of pills of
hydroxychloroquine to hospitals, and another company, Mylan, said it
would restart production of the drug. Doctors in China, South Korea and
France have reported that the treatments seem to help. But those efforts
have not involved the kind of large, carefully controlled studies that
would provide the global medical community the proof that these drugs
work on a significant scale.
In a White House briefing Thursday, Mr. Trump said the anti-malaria
drugs had shown "tremendous promise."
"I think it's going to be very exciting," he said. "I think it could be
a game changer, and maybe not."
The drugs' potential has been highlighted during broadcasts on one of
Mr. Trump's favorite news channels, Fox News, where hosts like Laura
Ingraham, Tucker Carlson and Jeanine Pirro have trumpeted the
possibility of a real treatment.
"They've gone through the approval process," Mr. Trump said of the
drugs. "It's been approved, and they did." But the F.D.A. has not
approved any drugs for use in the treatment of coronavirus, and the
drugs were already available, to treat malaria as well as rheumatoid
arthritis and lupus. To date, the F.D.A. has not added the coronavirus
to the list of illnesses for which the drugs are specifically approved.
Then again, doctors have been free to use both old malaria drugs for any
purpose deemed appropriate.
At the briefing on Thursday, Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, who has been the
commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration for only three months,
tended to walk back some of the president's more inflated predictions
that these drugs might vanquish the virus altogether.
He said Mr. Trump had asked the agency to look into chloroquine to fight
the coronavirus, and that it was setting up a large clinical trial to
evaluate the drug.
Some hospitals in the United States have already begun using the drugs
for coronavirus patients, apparently reasoning that they may help and
are unlikely to do harm. They are cheap and relatively safe. Laboratory
studies have found that they prevent the coronavirus from invading
cells, suggesting that the drugs could help prevent or limit the infection.
Not everyone can take the drugs: They are not safe for people who suffer
from heart arrhythmia, or those with impaired kidneys or liver.
The University of Minnesota is conducting a study in which people who
live with a coronavirus patient are being given hydroxychloroquine to
find out if it can prevent the infection.
Dr. Hahn also said that the agency was allowing sick patients to use
remdesivir, the not-yet-approved antiviral drug made by Gilead. Such
so-called "compassionate use" programs allow patients to take
unapproved, experimental drugs if they have no other options. Remdesivir
has already been given to patients on a compassionate-use basis,
including the first coronavirus patient in the United States, who was
treated in Washington State in late January.
Remdesivir is being studied in clinical trials, but the results are not
available yet. It was studied to treat Ebola, but did not work well
enough to be useful for that disease.
Dr. Hahn noted that the agency's job was to prove that drugs were safe
and effective. "What's also important is not to provide false hope, but
to provide hope," he said.
As word has spread about chloroquine's potential, demand in the United
States has overwhelmed the country's only supplier of the drug, the New
Jersey generic manufacturer Rising Pharmaceuticals.
Chloroquine has been in short supply since March 9, according to the
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which tracks drug
shortages. Hydroxychloroquine, which is made by more companies, has been
in shortage since Thursday.
Ira Baeringer, chief operating officer of Rising Pharmaceuticals, said
his company had been tracking the use of the drug in China and
elsewhere. They increased production about three weeks ago, he said, and
are meeting all of their orders. But he acknowledged that pharmacies may
currently have low stocks.
"We are experiencing an extraordinary demand, as you can imagine, but we
are shipping to all of the orders," Mr. Baeringer said. He noted that
the product had not yet been extensively tested for coronavirus so it
was unclear how well it works. "We're really trying to understand what
the need is going to be." On Thursday, the German manufacturer Bayer
said it had donated three million tablets of chloroquine to the U.S.
government for potential use as a treatment for coronavirus.
Bayer does not sell its chloroquine product in the United States, but
has said it is seeking approval from the F.D.A. for it to be used on an
emergency basis. Chloroquine, sold under the brand name Resochin by
Bayer, was discovered by the company in 1934. Bayer said in a statement
Thursday that it "appears to have broad spectrum antiviral properties
and effects on the body's immune response."
The company said it had been in recent talks with the White House and
several federal agencies to offer assistance.
Mr. Trump has previously made unfounded predictions that the coronavirus
epidemic would soon disappear. On Thursday, he appeared to enlist the
malaria drugs in that effort, even though Dr. Deborah Birx, the White
House's coronavirus response coordinator, said the virus could return in
the fall or winter of next year.
"If they work, your numbers are going to come down very rapidly," Mr.
Trump said. "So, we'll see what happens, but there's a real chance that
they might — they might work."
Sheila Kaplan contributed reporting.
(4) NYT: Trump's Embrace of Unproven Drugs to Treat Coronavirus Defies
Science
Trump's Embrace of Unproven Drugs to Treat Coronavirus Defies Science
Doctors and patients also worry that the president's rosy outlook for
the treatments will exacerbate shortages of old malaria drugs relied on
by patients with lupus and other debilitating conditions.
'Anecdotal Evidence,' Dr. Fauci Says of Malaria Drug Claim
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases, corrected President Trump's earlier suggestion
that a malaria drug could cure coronavirus.
"Dr. Fauci, as was explained yesterday, there has been some promise with
hydroxychloroquine, this potential therapy for people who are infected
with coronavirus. Is there any evidence to suggest that as with malaria
it might be used as a prophylaxis against Covid-19?"
"No, the answer is no. And the evidence that you're talking about, John,
is anecdotal evidence. So as the commissioner of F.D.A. and the
president mentioned yesterday, we're trying to strike a balance between
making something with the potential of an effect to the American people
available at the same time that we do it under the auspices of a
protocol that would give us information to determine if it's truly safe
and truly effective. But the information that you're referring to
specifically is anecdotal. It was not done in a controlled clinical
trial. So you really can't make any definitive statement about it."
"We all understand what the doctor said is 100% correct. It's early, but
we've, you know, I've seen things that are impressive. We'll see. We're
going to know soon. Look — it may work and it may not work. And I agree
with the doctor, what he said. May work, may not work. I feel good about
it. It's all it is, just a feeling. I'm, you know, a smart guy. I feel
good about it. And we're going to see, you're going to see soon enough."
By Katie Thomas and Denise Grady
Published March 20, 2020 Updated March 21, 2020, 11:40 a.m. ET
At a long-winded White House briefing on Friday, President Trump
enthusiastically and repeatedly promoted the promise of two long-used
malaria drugs that are still unproven against the coronavirus, but being
tested in clinical trials.
"I'm a smart guy," he said, while acknowledging he couldn't predict the
drugs would work. "I feel good about it. And we're going to see. You're
going to see soon enough."
But the nation's leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony S.
Fauci, delicately — yet forcefully — pushed back from the same stage,
explaining that there was only anecdotal evidence that the drugs,
chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, may be effective.
"The president feels optimistic about something, has feelings about it,"
said Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, emphasizing that he was a scientist. "I am saying
it may be effective."
Mr. Trump's boosterish attitude toward the drugs has deepened worries
among doctors and patients with lupus and other diseases who rely on the
drugs, because the idea that the old malaria drugs could work against
the coronavirus has circulated widely in recent weeks and fueled
shortages that have already left people rushing to fill their prescriptions.
"Rheumatologists are furious about the hype going on over this drug,"
said Dr. Michael Lockshin, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in
Manhattan. "There is a run on it and we're getting calls every few
minutes, literally, from patients who are trying to stay on the drug and
finding it in short supply."
The moment of discord between Mr. Trump and one of the nation's most
trusted authorities on the coronavirus was a clash between opinion and
fact. It threw Mr. Trump's faith in his own instincts into conflict with
the careful, evidence-based approach of scientists like Dr. Fauci, who
has held his position since the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Mr. Trump
appeared eager to sweep aside long-established standards for evaluating
drugs in order to champion the remedy he favors.
The excitement about the drugs is based largely on reports from China
and France that they seem to help patients. But researchers and Dr.
Fauci have stressed that the reports are not based on carefully
controlled studies, which are the only way to be sure a treatment really
works. [...]
(5) WaPo: Hospitals and doctors are wiping out supplies of an unproven
coronavirus treatment
Hospitals and doctors are wiping out supplies of an unproven coronavirus
treatment
Lack of definitive evidence has not stopped exploding demand for
chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, two old anti-malarial drugs.
Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are in high demand, even though they
have not yet been verified as an effective treatment for the coronavirus.
By Christopher Rowland
March 20, 2020 at 6:07 PM EDT
The U.S. has all but exhausted its supplies of two anti-malarial drugs
that are being used by some doctors in the U.S. and China to treat the
coronavirus, but which lack definitive evidence as effective treatment
or approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Hopes that the decades-old drugs could be effective against the
coronavirus were also boosted by President Trump, who told a White House
press briefing on Thursday the compounds were "a game-changer'' and have
shown "very, very encouraging results.'' He made similar remarks again
Friday.
The sudden shortages of the two drugs could come at a serious cost for
lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients who depend on them to alleviate
symptoms of inflammation, including preventing organ damage in lupus
patients.
Several new studies have shown the possible benefits of
hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, but medical experts are cautioning
there is no solid evidence they have any effect on coronavirus. At
Trump's behest, the FDA is considering launching a broad clinical study
to document whether they really work.
Even with the deep uncertainties, some doctors have been prescribing the
drug as a preventive measure as well as a treatment. The phenomenon,
known as "off-label'' prescribing, has depleted already limited supplies.
"It's gone. It's not in the pharmacy now,'' said Alexander Morden, a
physician in Queens who is taking the drug in the hope of staving off
infection. He said he has prescribed hydroxychloroquine to about 30 of
his patients as a prophylactic and as a treatment to another dozen who
have already been infected. [...]
(6) WaPo: Trump calls anti-malaria drug a 'game-changer' for
coronavirus, but FDA says it needs study
Trump calls anti-malaria drug a 'game-changer' for coronavirus, but the
FDA says it needs study
The agency is considering an expanded trial to see whether chloroquine,
a cheap, decades-old treatment for mosquito-borne disease, is effective
for treating covid-19
By Christopher Rowland, Carolyn Y. Johnson and Laurie McGinley
March 20, 2020 at 4:33 a.m. GMT+10
The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that
the agency is considering testing an old anti-malarial pill called
chloroquine on a broader pool of coronavirus patients, as President
Trump pushes the federal bureaucracy to cut red tape and move faster to
find ways of combating the virus.
At a briefing Thursday, Trump said he wants to speed approvals of
vaccines and treatments to fight the pandemic. There are no approved
treatments, but medical investigators around the world are studying
several widely available drugs, including chloroquine, to see whether
they can have a positive effect.
Trump sang the praises of chloroquine, calling it a potential
"game-changer," while seeming to stumble over the regulatory path
required to give it to a broader pool of patients.
"It has shown very, very encouraging early results, and we're going to
be able to make that drug available almost immediately," Trump said,
"and that is where the FDA has been so great. It's gone through the
approval process. It's been approved. They took it down from many months
to immediate."
But, in fact, the drug has not been approved by the FDA for the novel
coronavirus. It has long been approved to prevent and treat malaria as
well as to treat arthritis, and doctors have authority to prescribe it
now, but there is not enough evidence of definite efficacy against the
coronavirus.
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, speaking after the president, said the
FDA is considering giving chloroquine to larger populations of
coronavirus patients as part of an "expanded use" testing program. Such
a trial in patients would allow the FDA to collect data to measure
scientifically whether it works. It was not immediately clear how long
it would take the FDA to design the study and get it working at trial
sites around the country.
"In the short term, we are looking at drugs that are already approved
for other indications,'' Hahn said, citing chloroquine as the leading
example. "That's a drug that the president has directed us to take a
closer look at as to whether an expanded-use approach to that could be
done to actually see if that benefits patients.
"We want to do that in the setting of a clinical trial, a large,
pragmatic clinical trial to actually gather that information and answer
that question that needs to be answered,'' he said.
Trump said that he spoke with New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) on
Wednesday night and that Cuomo was eager to have chloroquine made
available to New Yorkers sickened by the novel coronavirus.
Chloroquine is an inexpensive generic drug that has been used for 70
years against malaria and has shown promise in laboratory tests against
the novel coronavirus.
It is attracting great interest as a potential treatment and is being
studied in China, the United States and Europe. Bayer, which said it
discovered the drug in 1934, announced it is donating 3 million doses to
the U.S. government. Although about a dozen generic and brand
manufacturers have different versions of the drug approved in the United
States, according to the FDA website, Bayer is not among them. The
company says it is seeking an emergency authorization from the agency so
the drug can be given to U.S. patients.
The drug costs as little as 30 cents a pill at retail Canadian
pharmacies, according to the website PharmacyChecker.com. In the United
States, where drug prices typically are the highest in the world, the
retail price is $6.63 per tablet, according to the website Drugs.com.
The FDA said in a statement later Thursday that, with interest rising in
chloroquine, which is already approved not only for malaria but also for
lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, it is working with manufacturers to ramp
up production to prevent shortages.
"If clinical data suggests this product may be promising in treating
COVID-19, we know there will be increased demand for it," said Hahn. "We
will take all steps to ensure chloroquine remains available for patients
who take it to treat severe and life-threatening illnesses such as lupus."
Chinese government guidelines for treating coronavirus patients have
included chloroquine along with herbal medicines, an HIV drug that was
recently shown to be ineffective in hospitalized patients, an influenza
drug and other therapies. [...]
(7) Olive Leaf cure for coronavirus?
From: mary ardley <marya8639@gmail.com> Subject: Re: French
Peer-Reviewed Study announces Cure for Coronavirus: HCQ + Azithromycin
Peter...
I too appear to have discovered a cure for coronavirus....Olive Leaf !
Olive leaf cures both malaria and HIV ( contains quinine and other
substances).
I have made tea from the leaves for a long time to cure ordinary colds
and flu and it works fast.
Recently I caught one which was not common and this time was using
turmeric for a cure ( turmeric is good too) but after a couple of days
this cold/flu was getting worse and feeling quite bad, So ( having no
free olive leaves these days ) i took a high strength capsule of olive
leaf extract and suddenly the increasing awfulness went and by the next
morning all the symptoms were gone. Whether this had been a mild version
of coronavirus I do not know as tests were not freely available
then..but have a feeling that it probably was.. and the range of
activity of those leaves makes them highly qualified as a cure. ==
From: mary ardley <marya8639@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Olive leaf tea
Olive leaves have been known as medicinal for a really long time there
are rock paintings of them in Egypt. Quinine has also always been known
to be awful if taken too much of so you should really only take it when
ill then stop when you are better.
Pick enough leaves to last a while, dry them in a dry but shady place
inside and when you make tea with a rounded teaspoon of leaf per cup let
it draw longer than ordinary tea. ==
After receiving Mary's emails, I went out and picked saome fresh olive
leaves. Chewed some, and yes, they have a bitter taste like quinine.
Then I made a tea from them. If you can't get Chloroquine in the shops,
try Olive Leaf Extract - Peter M.
(8) Olive Leaf ingredient oleuropein acts as an antiviral agent
Dynamic Chiropractic – July 14, 1997, Vol. 15, Issue 15
Herbal Health Report: Olive Leaf Extract Regains Interest as a Superb
Anti-microbial Agent
BY PAUL S. NASH, DC, CCN, LIC. ACU.
Headlines warning of antibiotic resistant bacteria, rare strains of
flesh eating strep, rising HIV rates, and deadly outbreaks of viruses
such as Ebola and Hanta are on the rise, prompting growing concerns amid
the medical community and the population at large. Endeavors to slow the
tide of increasingly virulent microorganisms has researchers clambering
for new and more potent drugs. But while we may be winning some battles,
the odds favor our much smaller opponents, which use shear numbers and
genetic variance to outwit our efforts, and which may ultimately be
winning the war.
Interestingly, we are finding powerful allies in the plant world. From
an evolutionary perspective, our bodies have relied on plants for
maintenance and repair. Botanicals, which are the foundation of many
pharmaceuticals, are now gaining new respect among researchers and
practitioners of traditional medicine. Modern botanicals are produced by
advanced extraction processes; they are highly concentrated substances
yielding powerful weapons in the battle against disease, while promoting
dynamic balance in the organism as a whole. Many herbal products possess
a high degree of safety and efficacy without the toxic side effects seen
in most pharmaceuticals.
The Mediterranean olive or olea europa has recently rekindled the
interest of scientists and clinicians alike because of its potent
medicinal value. The olive is a hardy tree that manufactures its own
potent antibiotic substances to fend off disease causing bacteria,
fungi, parasites and insects. In 1908, Bourquelot and Vintilesco
isolated a bitter glucoside (structurally classified as an iridoid) from
olive leaves and named it oleuropein. In 1960, scientists from Holland
further isolated elenolic acid (a monoterpene), which was eventually
determined to be the chemical constituent with the greatest activity
against infectious microbes. Later in that same decade, viral
researchers at a U.S. pharmaceutical company (Upjohn Co., Kalamazoo, MI)
demonstrated that elenolic acid evidenced remarkable inhibition of
viruses and bacteria without damaging the host cells in vitro.
Although it is not known exactly how oleuropein acts as an antiviral
agent, there are several proposed mechanisms:
interference with specific amino acid production processes vital to the
life cycle of the virus;
interference with viral infection and/or spread by inactivating the
virus or by prohibiting shedding, budding or assembly at the cell membrane;
immune activation of host defense through direct stimulation of
phagocytosis;
neutralization of the production of reverse transcriptase and protease
(relates to retroviral ability to alter the host cell RNA);
penetration of infected host cells while achieving an irreversible
inhibition of viral replication.
The antiviral activity of elenolic acid was shown to be greatest in an
alkaline environment (pH 7.5), which is very close to the normal human
pH range of 7.35-7.45. Virucidal activity was diminished by incubation
with amino acids lysine, glycine, cysteine and histidine, and to a
lesser extent with phenylalanine, tryptophan, serine and threonine.
Because the elenolic acid could be inactivated by free amino acids
circulating in the bloodstream, research was apparently discontinued.
Then in 1994, an independent research team achieved a breakthrough that
apparently overcame this hurdle, allowing sufficient levels of elenolic
acid to be delivered to the body. Today, preparations of olive leaf
extract are standardized to contain approximately 5% elenolic acid
content, and researchers are presently working to increase that
percentage to 15%.
Viruses that have shown susceptibility to elenolic acid in vitro include:
herpes (MRS); vaccinia; pseudorabies; influenza A & B; Newcastle
disease; parainfluenza 1, 2, & 3; coxsackie A21; encephlomyocarditis;
polio 1, 2, & 3; vesicular stomatitis; sindbis; reovirus; Moloney murine
leukemia; Rauscher murine leukemia; Moloney sarcoma. In vivo activity
has been demonstrated in hamsters with reduced viral yields from animals
infected with parainfluenza 3 virus.
Reportedly, some clinicians have been testing oleuropein with HIV
patients. Interestingly, protease inhibitors have gained a great deal of
press for their potential in the fight against AIDs. These are believed
to actively block the site of HIV protease. When combined with other
classes of drugs researchers have reported remission in infected
patients. We anxiously await their reports on effectiveness.
Oleuropein has also been shown effective against many bacteria. The
proposed mechanisms of antibacterial activity are as follows:
slows the growth rate and inhibits a number of enzymes;
induces damage to the cell membrane thus affecting its permeability and
resulting in a leakage of cytoplasmic constituents;
inhibition of micrococcal nuclease and lysozyme;
inhibits enzymes by reacting with the e-amino group of exposed lysine
residues and the exposed n-terminal amino group of polypeptide chains;
irreversible inhibition of DNA polymerase II and inhibition of DNA
polymerase III holoenzymes;
immune activation of host defense through direct stimulation of
phagocytic activity.
Bacteria that have shown susceptibility include: lactobacillus
plantarum; l. brevis; pediococcus cerevisiae; leuconostoc mesenteroides;
bacillus cereus; staphylococcus aureus; bacillus subtilis; enterobacter
aerogenes; e. cloacae; escherichia coli; salmonella typhinurium;
pseudomonas fluorescens; p. solanacearum; p. lachrymans; erwinia
carotovora; e. tracheiphila; xanthomonas vesicatoria; and
corynebacterium michiganese.
Oleuropein has also been found effective against strains of malaria,
including plasmodium falciparum, plasmodium vivax, plasmodium ovale and
plasmodium malariae. Malaria is a protozoan infection characterized by
fever, chills and profuse sweating, and occurs primarily in tropical
regions. Malarial infection can occur by transmission of the protozoa
parasite following the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito. First the
sporozoites multiply in cells of the liver, then after a period usually
lasting 2-4 weeks, the parasite may invade the red blood cells. Next,
the merozoites may multiply before being released into the bloodstream.
Antimalarial activity was reported by clinicians in the 1850s who
administered decoctions of olive leaf to infected patients. In 1906,
scientists claimed that olive leaf extracts were superior to quinine,
the primary treatment of malaria at the time. Since malaria has
developed resistance to many of our present day drugs, clinicians may
want to consider olive leaf extract as an addition to the treatment of
malaria once again.
Fungal and yeast infections have been the focus of a great deal of
attention from many health care providers. A major contributing factor
to this increase is theorized to result from the overuse and
overprescription of bacterial antibiotics. These substances, once
believed to be a panacea or cure-all, are now realized to have resulted
in superstrains of antibiotic resistant bacteria that are increasingly
more difficult to treat.
Furthermore, the natural bacteria living on our skin and mucous
membranes (such as the lungs and intestinal tract) provide a blanket of
protection from other harmful organisms. These microbes secrete
substances that may be toxic to other invading organisms and either
benefit or have a neutral effect on our bodies and cells.
Because antibiotics kill both the friendly and unfriendly organisms,
they can upset the delicate balance of our body's natural defenses. The
result has been a paradise for yeast and fungi not harmed by the
antibiotics, which may flourish without competition from our natural
bacterial allies. Since yeast prefer a diet high in sugars, our
overindulgence in sweets has further benefited yeast populations and
contributed to illness and disease. Fungi and yeast species that have
shown sensitivity to oleuropein include geotrichum candidum, rhizopus
sp. and rhizoctonia solani.
Oleuropein and other structurally related iridoids have also
demonstrated anti-inflammatory properties when administered either
orally or topically. Although oleuropein's activity as an
anti-inflammatory may be moderate in comparison to other naturally
occurring iridoids, it could still be considered noteworthy. And since
virtually all disease results in an inflammatory response, oleuropein
might offer some benefits in any health condition.
In the United States, as in most Western countries, atherosclerotic
heart disease and stroke remain the number one killer despite all the
advancements in medicine. A major risk factor for atherosclerosis is the
elevation of serum lipids (specifically low density lipoproteins or
LDLs). Oxidized low density lipoproteins can be taken up by endothelial
cells and monocytes by way of their scavenger receptor. This can lead to
the formation of cholesterol ester-loaded foam cells and atherosclerotic
plaques. In the advanced stages, this can lead to the death of the
endothelial cell (which is the cell at the innermost layer of the blood
vessel). Oleuropein is a polyphenolic compound; these
naturally-occurring phytochemicals are considered to be very potent
antioxidants. Oleuropein has been shown to inhibit the oxidation of LDLs.
This may be the reason oleuropein has shown antiatherogenic activity.
Oleuropein content in the diet of the Mediterranean population has been
proposed among other postulates for the decreased incidence of coronary
heart disease when compared to its Western counterpart.
Hypertension is a common disorder encountered and diagnosed by many
physicians. Because there is usually no pain associated with its
occurrence, many patients are unaware of problems until they visit their
doctors or until it is too late, as in the case of a stroke. An
important component of olive leaf extract is oleuropeside. This compound
has been shown to act as a hypotensive by activating the vasodilation of
blood vessels. Decreased arterial blood pressure, decreased atrial rate,
decreased cardiac contractility and anti-arrhythmic effects have all
been attributed to oleuropeside. It appears that other olive leaf
ingredients act synergistically to potentiate the relaxant effect of
oleuropeside; thus, the whole is greater than the individual parts.
Diabetes mellitus is a syndrome characterized by increased blood sugar
resulting from impaired insulin secretion and/or effectiveness. Numerous
complications include retinopathy, atherosclerotic disease, nephropathy
and neuropathies. Olive leaves have long been touted as an antidiabetic
agent in herbal folklore. Scientists have demonstrated that the
oleuropeside content of the plant is responsible for its hypoglycemic
activity. The potentiation of glucose-induced release of insulin and an
increased peripheral uptake of glucose are two proposed methods of
antihyperglycemic activity.
The oleuropeside content is highest in the winter months and samples
collected in these months evidenced the greatest hypoglycemic and
antihyperglycemic activity. Olive leaves collected in the summer months
may contain little or no oleuropeside. Individuals with insulin
dependent diabetes should be cautioned against using oleuropein or other
plant extracts to control diabetes as this could be extremely dangerous.
However, individuals with non-insulin dependent and insulin dependent
diabetics may want to closely monitor their glucose levels when taking
oleuropeside rich oleuropein.
Hyperuricemia is a finding that is commonly associated with gout.
Because of the high uric acid content in the bloodstream, crystals may
deposit in the joints. Swelling, warmth, redness and exquisite
tenderness most often affects the metatarsophalangeal joint of the great
toe, but the instep, ankle, knee, wrist and elbow are also common sites.
Uric acid may also precipitate in organs, such as the kidney, where
aggregates of gravel or stones may lead to obstructive uropathy. A
report in the Belgian Pharmacology Journal (March-April 1994) recorded
hypouricemic activity in aqueous olive leaf extracts. This may lead to a
promising method of managing hyperuricemia and its complications.
Although the following accounts are anecdotal, I have seen numerous
benefits in practice using oleuropein. Perhaps the most common is
patients reporting tremendous increases in energy, even patients with
chronic fatigue. Patients have also reported toenail fungus that
disappeared in cases that had been unresponsive to medical care,
decreased severity and length of herpes outbreaks, and hasty recovery
from colds and flus.
Oleuropein is best taken with water, one hour or more away from food, as
the activity of elenolic acid in the oleuropein may be decreased by
certain amino acids found in protein- containing foods and supplements.
Therefore, if one wishes to take amino acids such as lysine they may
wish to take the oleuropein at a different time of the day. Some
individuals may experience symptoms of detoxification resulting from
toxins released into the bloodstream following the death of a virus,
bacteria, fungus or parasite. Symptoms of detoxification are natural and
may include headaches, muscle and joint aches, skin rash or sensitivity,
irritability, nervousness, fatigue and mental dullness. Individuals with
hypoglycemic tendencies may likewise experience similar symptoms. In
either case, proceed slowly by taking only one or two pills and
gradually increase the dosage when symptoms subside. A reasonable
therapeutic dose would be 6-9 pills in divided doses per day (some
practitioners have reportedly used doses double this amount).
The olive has long been a symbol of hope, victory and friendship since
biblical days. Perhaps the time has come for us to reconsider the
powerful role this tree can play in contemporary health care.
References: [...]
(9) Ole and HT may be useful against other viruses ... including severe
acute respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus
Journal ListHHS Author ManuscriptsPMC2790717
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2007 Mar 23; 354(4): 872–878.
Published online 2007 Jan 24. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.01.071
PMCID: PMC2790717
NIHMSID: NIHMS18537
PMID: 17275783
Discovery of Small-Molecule HIV-1 Fusion and Integrase Inhibitors
Oleuropein and Hydroxytyrosol: I. Fusion Inhibition
Sylvia Lee-Huang,1,†* Philip Lin Huang,2,§* Dawei Zhang,1,§ Jae Wook
Lee,3 Ju Bao,3 Yongtao Sun,1 Young-Tae Chang,3 John Zhang,3 and Paul Lee
Huang4,*
Abstract
We have identified oleuropein (Ole) and hydroxytyrosol (HT) as a unique
class of HIV-1 inhibitors from olive leaf extracts effective against
viral fusion and integration. We used molecular docking simulation to
study the interactions of Ole and HT with viral targets. [...]
We previously reported that olive leaf extract is potent against HIV-1
[3]. We investigated its anti-HIV properties and discovered that
oleuropein (Ole) and its main metabolite, hydroxytyrosol (HT) are the
key anti-HIV components. They are active against multiple stages of the
HIV-1 life cycle, inhibiting cell-to-cell HIV-1 transmission and viral
core antigen p24 production. [...]
DISCUSSION
Ole and HT are small molecules with molecular weights of 539 and 153
respectively. Their inhibition of the fusion-promoting refolding of gp41
is an excellent example of how small molecules can block formation of
protein–protein complexes. We narrowed down the target of binding to a
hydrophobic pocket on the gp41 inner core. This pocket is highly
conserved among the different HIV clades. Consistent with this, we found
that Ole and HT are active against a panel of HIV-1 primary isolates
that includes both M and T tropic strains from different clades. Our
results suggest that Ole and HT may be useful against other viruses with
type I transmembrane envelope glycoprotein, including severe acute
respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus [23, 27], respiratory
syncytial virus, Ebola virus [28], measles virus [29], and avian flu
[30, 31]. [...]
References: [...]
(10) Urology site endorses natural treatment: How Viruses Work and How
to Prevent and Eliminate Them
How Viruses Work and How to Prevent and Eliminate Them Naturally
Urology of Virginia
Last updated: 03-13-2020
Read original article here
How Viruses Work and How to Prevent and Eliminate Them Naturally ...
How Viruses Work and How to Prevent and Eliminate Them Naturally
October 27, 2014
by Michael Edwards
Last updated on: March 10, 2020
Nature’s Zombies
We have identified more than 2,000 viruses, though only 10% infect
humans. Scientists used to think human viruses do not affect animals and
animal viruses do not affect humans, but we now know that viruses not
only jump species, sometimes they combine to create new strains. New
strains can present a clear threat to human survival.
In 1918 the Spanish flu pandemic was a global killer. Estimates of the
dead range from 20-100 million, up to 5% of the population–all within
one year. Unlike previous flu pandemics and epidemics, this flu strain
killed healthy adults, whereas most flu strains targeted children, the
elderly, and the infirmed. More people died in this one-year pandemic
than the four years of the bubonic plague.
We often hear that many dangerous strains of influenza begin in China.
This belief is based on the dense population of humans living in close
proximity to high populations of animals. Many dangerous viral strains
have been found to originate in China jumping from birds or pigs to the
human population. Birds alone have been found to carry as many as 15
viral strains.
Contents
A virus is a pathogenic, parasitic organism that isn’t classified as
being alive, since a cell is an essential to our definition of life. A
virus has no cell membrane, no metabolism, no respiration and cannot
replicate outside of a living cell. A virus is a creepy half-live,
single strand or double strand of DNA or RNA or both, looking for a cell
to invade. Once inside, it reprograms the cell with its DNA or RNA and
multiplies on mass, bursting through the cell with a thousand or more
new virus strands seeking new cells to invade. RNA viruses mutate more
easily than DNA viruses. (SARS, bird flu, West Nile virus, swine flu,
hepatitis, measles, polio, yellow fever, and Ebola are among the many
RNA viruses).
If two viruses invade the same cell (a bird virus and a human virus, for
instance) their DNA can combine to form a new virus, a potentially
virulent one. The same is true if two animal viruses combine and jump
species to humans.
Viruses have two life cycles: the lytic cycle and the lysogenic cycle.
Lytic Cycle
In the lytic cycle, the virus focuses on reproduction. It invades a
cell, inserts its DNA and creates thousands of copies of itself, bursts
through the cell membrane, killing the cell, and each new viral strand
invades new cells replicating the process.
Lysogenic Cycle In the lysogenic cycle, viruses remain dormant within
its host cells. The virus may remain dormant for years. Herpes and
chickenpox are good examples. (Chicken pox can cause shingles in later
life when the dormant virus reactivates.)
How Does the Body Fight a Virus?
Our bodies fight off invading organisms, including viruses, all the
time. Our first line of defense is the skin, mucous, and stomach acid.
If we inhale a virus, mucous traps it and tries to expel it. If it is
swallowed, stomach acid may kill it. If the virus gets past the first
line of defense, the innate immune system comes into play. The
phagocytes wage war and release interferon to protect surrounding cells.
If they cannot destroy the invading force, the phagocytes call the
lymphocytes into play.
Our lymphocytes, T cells and B cells, retain a memory of any previous
infection that was serious enough to bring them into the battle.
Antibodies were formed and the body knows how to fight any infection it
recognizes. (This is how vaccinations work. The body has fought a
similar infection). But viruses can mutate, sometimes so much that they
body cannot recognize them as a similar infection they fought in the
past. They can also be so fast acting, they can kill before the
lymphocytes are brought into play.
How Does Conventional Medicine Treat a Virus?
Antiviral medications do not directly kill the virus; they trap it
within the cell, keeping it from reproducing. The only catch is that the
anti-viral has to be taken with 48 hours of symptom onset or it doesn’t
work.
Antibiotics don’t kill viruses. They kill bacteria, not viruses. And
they kill good bacteria that we need to keep our gut in balance. Taking
antibiotics when you have a viral infection can cause an immediate
overgrowth of Candida, giving the immune system an additional
system-wide infection to deal with when it needs all of its resources to
fight a viral infection. ...
Echinacea
Echinacea not only supports the immune system, it also has been proven
to reduce the severity and duration of viral infections. ...
Elderberry
A double-blind trail showed elderberry extract’s ability to reduce
symptoms of influenza and speed recovery. It also showed elderberry’s
ability to enhance immune response with higher levels of antibodies in
the blood. It is believed to inhibit a virus’s ability to penetrate
healthy cells and protect cells with powerful antioxidant S. Elderberry
has also been shown to inhibit replication in four strains of herpes
viruses and reduce infectivity of HIV strains.
Green Tea
The flavonoids in green tea are believed to fight viral infections by
preventing the virus from entering host cells and by inhibiting replication.
Olive Leaf Extract
Though double-blind clinical trials are needed, olive leaf extract has
been shown to inhibit replication of viruses. In one study, 115 of 119
patients had a full and rapid recovery from respiratory tract infections
while 120 of 172 had a full and rapid recovery from viral skin
infections such as herpes. ...
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