@kitty-kat-kollection wrote:
I have some questions.
1. A friend of mine said she read there were now EIGHT strains of this hideous virus. Does anyone know about this? Are some strains the mild ones or are the widely varied symptoms more based on an individual's immune response? How can they possibly come up with an effective vaccine against EIGHT strains? (for now. It may mutate again)
2. The reason some people succumb to the pneumonia part of this (and the ARDS - acute respiratory distress syndrome, then sometimes organ failure from lack of oxygen to the body) is not directly because of the virus but because of the immune system's response to it.
When you get a cold for example, all the stuff your nose / throat / lungs annoyingly produce is not actually that cold virus, but rather your immune system detecting the virus as a foreign body, a bad thing, and then creating a heap of inflammation to try to get rid of it.
Same with this virus, but way more extreme. So...in the people who get it really severely, is their immune system too efficient? Has it gone into hyper vigilant mode? Can this be safely dampened down by say steroids (that suppress the immune system) until the person's lungs aren't drowning in fluid anymore, caused by the immune response? Or is it too risky to lower immunity when the body is trying to fight the virus?
3. I've heard that autopsies carried out on some patients who did not survive showed the lungs had hardened like marble (so could not expand and contract in order to breathe) and were full of a thick pus-like mucus, not liquid.
Also, it's always said that a main symptom is a dry cough. And in fact, many people who get pneumonia not related to COVID19 also get a dry cough. But why is it dry if there is mucus in the lungs? Is it because the pneumonia hits too deep down in the lungs, so unlike say bronchitis, which targets the much higher up bronchi and results in a productive cough, people can't cough it up?
So...would there be any kind of benefit to giving people who have a dry cough from this virus, before it gets to a pneumonia stage, an expectorant cough medicine to thin the mucus and thus perhaps turn that useless dry cough into a productive one to maybe help clear the lungs?
Just wondering...
My reading of the subject Yes Yes Yes , so what to do now that may minimise damage from a nasty infection ?
One can look for hints at those that do not get badly affected
ie youth .
So how is youth different compared with those that are hospitalised ?
maybe one difference is physical activity , exercise , sustained movement - and so an efficient lymphatic system , cellular waste disposal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphatic_system
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/lymphoedema
ref section " The Lymphatic System"
So for the more older of the population maybe some effective exercise machine might be helpful during the time of quarantine , might be helpful in minimising other seasonal ills - has been mentioned is not a good time to be grossly overweight.
Mucus is a problem ? Maybe reducing mucus forming foods could be helpful if alternates can be consumed. Wonder if elderly vegetarians suffer as much as those of the Standard Western Diet ? An interesting research project .
