Teresa Gryder's Naturopathic Notes: How to get healthy and stay that way without taking handfulls of meds for the rest of your days.

COVID-19 Links 7

4/4/2020

Covidly: another place to watch the numbers, hover to see more
https://covidly.com/

Inoculating Dose Matters: Bigger Exposure-->Faster Onset, Worse Disease
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/opinion/coronavirus-viral-dose.html

The CDC comes around: wear a mask in public 4/3
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/world/coronavirus-news-updates.html

The WHO lists bogus labs and recommends no cures 3/31
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/essential-medicines/drug-alerts20/no3-2020-falsified-mp-forcovid-en.pdf

Turmeric/Curcuma longa May Reduce Cytokine Storm
https://info.bioticsresearch.com/researchforum/curcumins-influence-on-cytokine-storm

CDC on How to Care for someone at Home
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/care-for-someone.html

If you get sick enough to need a Ventilator, you're probably a goner
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/02/826105278/ventilators-are-no-panacea-for-critically-ill-covid-19-patients

Foolishness: Letting Religious People Gather in Groups during Pandemic
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/01/825667542/states-consider-whether-religious-services-qualify-as-essential

Viral Shedding Continues Long Time after Illness Resolves
https://nypost.com/2020/03/30/coronavirus-patients-could-still-be-contagious-after-symptoms-resolve-study/

Dead Bodies in the Streets: Ecuador's Dark Ages
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ecuador-bodies-streets-guayaquil-coronavirus-covid-19/

This Report Suggests that Oregon has Flattened the Curve
https://govsite-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/8arHLJI7QrqywZlmFH1X_Oregon-COVID-19-Projections-2020-03-30.pdf

Mushrooms and Oats for Immune Modulation
https://blog.designsforhealth.com/node/1219

A Different Perspective: DeGrowth and Direct Democracy
https://theecologist.org/2020/apr/03/coronavirus-and-degrowth

Mortality Rates Grim Among Elders
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6912e2.htm?s_cid=mm6912e2_w

Your Home May Not Be Private
https://www.myidcare.com/articles/single/even-sheltering-at-home-were-not-alone

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COVID-19 Antibodies: Introd to Immunology and Vaccines

3/26/2020

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Are you an immunologist? Yeah, probably not. There aren't a lot of immunologists in the world. I'm not one, though I've studied immunology under one of the best (Dr. Heather Zwickey) and I try to keep up. It's a fast moving field. Every time I hear Dr Zwickey speak she tells us about some new receptor or cytokine that they've discovered, and a bunch of new correlations between the things we already have a little info about.

If you don't speak the language of immunology, a lot of the talk these days won't make a lot of sense. How does the body fight off a virus? How is a vaccine made? These questions have long, complicated answers. In this post I want to teach you the basic outline of the answers, even if we don't go into all the terminology and details.

One word you're going to hear a lot about is ANTIBODIES. Antibodies are, for the most part, a good thing. Antibodies are what you have if you have gotten sick and managed to fight off the infection.

But how do you get them?

When you first get an infection, something has invaded your body. It could be a virus or a bacteria or a cancer cell that won't stop multiplying. The first step in fighting off such an invader is to recognize it. We have immune cells who are always on patrol for invaders. The take samples of antigens from the invader's surface and deliver them to headquarters (a lymph node). At headquarters there are cells that design and manufacture antibodies that match those antigens. Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins that stick to the antigens on the invader cells and mark them for destruction.

After the invader antigens are marked, a different set of immune cells charges out and kills them. This is when you start getting better from your illness. Unfortunately the process of noticing the invader, delivering the antigen sample to HQ, designing and making the antibodies, tagging the invader cells and killing them takes about a week. It's not fast.

When your body has never fought off a certain invader before, your immune system is said to be "naive" about it. Once you have been exposed and are making antibodies, you are said to have "immunity".

This is why vaccines are so useful. A vaccine is basically a sample of antigen injected into your system to jump-start the process of recognition, delivery, and antibody-making. If you've had the vaccine for a particular kind of invader, then your body already has the antibody designed and a few of them are already made. This cuts days off of your response time to that infection. The faster you can mark the invader with antibodies and send in the troops to destroy it, the less time it has to grow in your body and make you badly sick.

When it comes to COVID-19, we had doubts about humans making good antibodies to it, because we don't seem to develop antibodies to the other coronaviruses that cause the common cold. Without developing antibodies, we don't have immunity. We can get the common cold over and over again, and it can be just as bad as it was the last time.

But the GOOD NEWS is in, and that is that people who've had COVID-19 are making antibodies to it! That means that we will be able to make a vaccine, and that the vaccine will work. This study from China, posted today (3/26/2020), says they found 206 different antibodies to COVID-19 in the immune cells of patients that survived it. Not only are there 206 antibodies detected so far, but they stick really well to the virus. Good news indeed!

The next step after testing people for the virus is to test them for the antibodies. Some of us have already had it. Wouldn't it be great to know if you've had it yet? If you knew that your immune system had already beat this virus and was ready to beat it again, you could go work in a hospital with sick people and not worry about getting sick.

It's true, we don't know how long immunity will last after exposure and antibody response, but we will learn that in the next year or two. In the meanwhile I am encouraged that research is finding good antibodies that can be used for a vaccine. Hope is on the Horizon.

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COVID-19 Links 1

3/18/2020

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This list was updated daily, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20.

In Colorado A Whole Town Will Get Tested
https://coloradosun.com/2020/03/20/telluride-san-miguel-county-coronavirus-covid19-testing/

Worse Than the Flu: More Contagious and More Lethal
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/the-story-of-a-coronavirus-infection.html

Overview of Situation and Actions to Take
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard (for tracking the numbers)
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Details on Lab Testing
https://www.wired.com/story/everything-you-need-to-know-about-coronavirus-testing/

CDC on What To Do if you are Sick
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/steps-when-sick.html

Dr Teresa Gryder on Self Care and Self Treatment Options
rb.gy/9gocvh

What Will Happen to Hospitals (Models by Propublica)
https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/covid-hospitals

Simulitis: Washington Post Graphic on How Social Distancing Works
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/

Dr Heather Zwickey (audio) on Immune Support and Why C19 is so Bad
https://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/sites/default/files/media/nmj_covid_update_zwickey.mp3

Seattle Intensivist's One Page Notes 3/15/2020
https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/ICU_one_pager_COVID_v2.3.png

Mental Health Maintenance Tips
https://www.internationalsos.com/client-magazines/looking-after-yourself-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak

Don't take Ibuprofen, Aspirin or Naproxin (Tylenol OK)
https://www.sciencealert.com/who-recommends-to-avoid-taking-ibuprofen-for-covid-19-symptoms

CDC Clinical guidance for Clinicians treating Confirmed cases
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-guidance-management-patients.html

Diarrhea = Presenting Symptom in <50%, Presents Later, Worse Prognosis
(Chinese study, n=204)
https://journals.lww.com/ajg/Documents/COVID_Digestive_Symptoms_AJG_Preproof.pdf

Social Distancing May Last a Long Time
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/17/817214311/new-analysis-suggests-months-of-social-distancing-may-be-needed-to-stop-virus

No Free Pass for Young People
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/488325-cdc-data-show-coronavirus-poses-serious-risk-for-younger-people

Half of the patients in France's hospitals are under 65
https://theweek.com/speedreads/902571/about-half-frances-coronavirus-patients-intensive-care-are-under-65-health-official-says

Most Cases are Still Hidden 3/16/2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/health/coronavirus-statistics-undetected.html

American ICU's Will Be Over Max
http://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/cbn/2020/cbnreport-03132020.html

Effect of Mitigation: No Way to Win 3/9/2020
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30567-5/fulltext

Genetics of COVID-19 Show It is NOT Manmade
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/safety-quality/covid-19-not-man-made-comparative-genomic-study-finds

Capitalism is the Vector 3/18/2020
https://theecologist.org/2020/mar/18/virus-haunting-europe-vector-capitalism

Single Payer Healthcare Systems Performing Better Than For Profit Systems
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/16/public-health-experts-single-payer-systems-coping-coronavirus-more-effectively

Rich and Famous Get Tested, Regular People Wait
https://apnews.com/b8dcd1b369001d5a70eccdb1f75ea4bd

Kushner aims to get rich on this too
1) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/guess-who-previously-owned-health-insurance-co-operating-coronavirus-testing-website/ar-BB11kwPT
2) https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kushner-coronavirus-team-sparks-confusion-plaudits-inside-white-house-response-efforts/2020/03/18/02038a16-6874-11ea-9923-57073adce27c_story.html

Why Paid Sick Leave Should be Mandatory
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/safety-quality/sick-staff-fueled-outbreak-seattle-area-care-centers

On the Idea that we should let everybody get it and save the economy
https://theweek.com/articles/902582/conservatives-who-sacrifice-elderly-save-economy

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COVID-19 Links 7

COVID-19 Antibodies: Introd to Immunology and Vaccines

COVID-19 Links 1

Author: Teresa Gryder

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