CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS – 02/08/2021

HELLO,

Most of the most recent area data is not available due to the weekend. In addition the net and my computers are uppidity lately. Sorry.

Virus Variant First Found in Britain Now Spreading Rapidly in U.S.

8 most convincing messages

to promote COVID-19 vaccine

“HERE’S WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS TO HEAR”

GOOD BRIEF SUMMARY OF ALL THE VACCINES

The Mysterious Link Between COVID-19 and Sleep

(J. Harris: Very readable The Atlantic [it will always be “Atlantic Monthly” to me]. Contains potentially useful information about sleep, melatonin, health, and recovery.)

“….Although sleep cycles can be disturbed and damaged by the post-infectious inflammatory process, radiologists and neurologists aren’t seeing evidence that this is irreversible. And among the arsenal of ways to attempt to reverse it are basic measures such as sleep itself. Adequate sleep also plays a part in minimizing the likelihood of ever entering into this whole nasty, uncertain process…”

FROM HOPKINS:

1. Monoclonal Antibodies for COVID-19

“…Currently, 2 monoclonal antibody products are being used to treat COVID-19 through a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization. Although researchers are still learning which patients with COVID-19 are most likely to benefit from monoclonal antibody therapy, early data suggest greater benefit in high-risk patients, including those older than 65 years, with a suppressed immune system, or with certain medical conditions including obesity. …Monoclonal antibodies are intended for patients recently diagnosed as having COVID-19 who are not sick enough to be in the hospital but who have some risk factors for severe infection. Giving the infusion as early as possible in the course of infection is important, so patients should seek medical care and testing as soon as they develop symptoms….

ORIGINAL ARTICLE A Cluster-Randomized Trial of Hydroxychloroquine for Prevention of Covid-19

The analysis included 2314 healthy contacts of 672 index case patients with Covid-19 who were identified between March 17 and April 28, 2020. A total of 1116 contacts were randomly assigned to receive hydroxychloroquine and 1198 to receive usual care. Results were similar in the hydroxychloroquine and usual-care groups with respect to the incidence of PCR-confirmed, symptomatic Covid-19 (5.7% and 6.2%, respectively… In addition, hydroxychloroquine was not associated with a lower incidence of SARS-CoV-2 transmission than usual care (18.7% and 17.8%, respectively). The incidence of adverse events was higher in the hydroxychloroquine group than in the usual-care group … but no treatment-related serious adverse events were reported.

(J. Harris: For goodness sake, this is the last Hydroxychloroquine article that I will post. IT DOES NOT PREVENT OR TREAT COVID SUCCESSFULLY.)

Op-Med Will Ivermectin Cure COVID-19? By Joshua Jarryd Davis, MD February 2, 2021 Original article

Based on my review, I think ivermectin is a promising therapeutic for COVID-19, but the current data on its use is not convincing enough to outweigh its risks. There is a signal of benefit, yes, and in the near future there may be a well-done study that shows benefit in some patients. (Actually, there are several ongoing trials studying exactly this.) However, the data supporting ivermectin’s use published on ivmmeta.com is not robust enough to inform a practice change or suggest the drug should be prescribed for COVID-19 patients. There is certainly not enough convincing evidence to argue that a well-done RCT is unethical. In fact, the data strongly suggests that an RCT should be done. I encourage physicians and patients to participate in a randomized trial, so that we can better understand ivermectin’s real potential.

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Ratio of an igloo’s circumference to its diameter: Eskimo Pi

2000 pounds of Chinese soup: Won ton

1 millionth of a mouthwash: 1 microscope