Coronavirus/COVID-19

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macliam
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Re: Coronavirus/COVID-19

Post by macliam » Fri May 29 2020 12:27pm

My friend in London has now been moved to a single room - finally out of ICU after 7 weeks and having been almost written off a few weeks back. He is now diconnected from all machinery and his medicaments are being reduced. Yesterday, he was sitting up in his bed and waved back on the video call - he still has no voice. The medics intend to get him sitting in a chair this week.

Still not out....... but getting there!
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Re: Coronavirus/COVID-19

Post by BeautifulSunshine » Fri May 29 2020 1:51pm

macliam wrote:
Fri May 29 2020 12:27pm
My friend in London has now been moved to a single room - finally out of ICU after 7 weeks and having been almost written off a few weeks back. He is now diconnected from all machinery and his medicaments are being reduced. Yesterday, he was sitting up in his bed and waved back on the video call - he still has no voice. The medics intend to get him sitting in a chair this week.

Still not out....... but getting there!
I wish him a speedy and full recovery.

For anyone like me who hasn't heard of the word medicament before:
medicament

/mɪˈdɪkəm(ə)nt,ˈmɛdɪkəm(ə)nt/
Learn to pronounce

noun
plural noun: medicaments
a substance used for medical treatment.
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Re: Coronavirus/COVID-19

Post by expressman33 » Fri May 29 2020 4:06pm

How can you trust coronavirus stats . From here https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/ it says in the UK there are approx 270,000 coronavrus cases that is the TOTAL who have had or still have the virus. Yet yesterdays TV briefing said studies say approx 7.8% of the population now have antibodies and must have had the virus . 7.8% of just 60 million is over 4.6 million which is more than 17 times the official figure . I know the 270,000 figure is those that have tested positive , but it must show how many people have very mild symptons or no symptons , so I can't see how the new Track and Trace will work.

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Re: Coronavirus/COVID-19

Post by Sarah » Fri May 29 2020 4:23pm

Yeah, the various statistics are very different things. The official figures announced by the government for cases and deaths are absolute minimums, since they only count records that are positively confirmed (based on tests and death certificates). However, it's still a fact that only a small percentage of the population have been tested (so the true figure is much higher and can only be estimated) and many deaths have COVID-19 as a contributory factor without being the recorded cause (hence the "excess deaths" figure tracked by the ONS and reported in the FT seems a more realistic indication of the impact from the virus, which compares 2020 with normalised expectations based on previous years and currently totals around 60,000 deaths).
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Re: Coronavirus/COVID-19

Post by Boro Boy » Fri May 29 2020 4:37pm

Interesting summary of what to do next after Coronavirus...: https://www.ribaj.com/intelligence/emer ... ian-dobson :problem:

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Re: Coronavirus/COVID-19

Post by expressman33 » Wed Jun 03 2020 9:57am

Follow the science ?????
Years ago I was advised to take a daily aspirin tablet by my GP . I took this for about 3 years then suddenly the advice changed I stopped taking them
In March this year I read that taking Ibruprofen could make Covid 19 symptons worse ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/51929628 ) , now it could be the latest treatment against Covid19 https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/trial-testin ... 9-launches

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Re: Coronavirus/COVID-19

Post by Richard Frost » Wed Jun 03 2020 10:14am

expressman33 wrote:
Wed Jun 03 2020 9:57am
Follow the science ?????
Years ago I was advised to take a daily aspirin tablet by my GP . I took this for about 3 years then suddenly the advice changed I stopped taking them
In March this year I read that taking Ibruprofen could make Covid 19 symptons worse ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/51929628 ) , now it could be the latest treatment against Covid19 https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/trial-testin ... 9-launches
I also saw the advice to stop taking Asprin and discussed it with my GP at the time. He said that taking one small dose 75mg a day was the advised route and I should continue to take it. So I do. You should never start or stop any prescribed treatment without advice/discussion with a Doctor first. Science is continually changing as new things are discovered and new evidence comes to light. Your Doctor/GP should be in the best position to keep you up to date with the latest treatments. It should also be said that the Ibuprofen they are trailing is a different formulation to the one you can buy over the counter.
The trial will use a special formulation of ibuprofen rather than the regular tablets that people might usually buy. Some people already take this lipid capsule form of the drug for conditions like arthritis.
It is not being used to treat the virus but the breathing difficulties associated with it. The aim being to avoid the need for ventilation.
Studies in animals suggest it might treat acute respiratory distress syndrome - one of the complications of severe coronavirus
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52894638

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Re: Coronavirus/COVID-19

Post by macliam » Wed Jun 03 2020 11:51am

No drug is a silver bullet - there are three factors to consider in any treatment - Firstly, no drug is specific and secondly, individual variations impact its effects and thirdly, the effect of a drug treatment can change radically when other dugs are taken at the same time.

The first should be obvious when you actually look at that piece of paper provided with any medicines and read the side-effects (or contraindications ). What it means is that a particular drug will have a range of impacts on the human organism - both the primary effect and many secondary effects, some of which may be damaging. The primary effect is that reported by the majority of people, secondary effects are those reported by a minority of those taking the same drug - so use of any drug is a balance between the possible positive and negative effects.

The second factor is also fairly obvious...... we are all different, we have different strengths and weaknesses and we are the product of these factors. This explains why some people have a higher risk of developing ailments regardless of external stimuli. One person may do something without apparent effect, whilst another cannot. So a drug will have a slightly different impact on different people - it may be beneficial to some, but dangerous to others.

There is a third factor - which is very "inconvenient" for medics..... it is the interaction of drugs - many drugs used to tackle cardiac issues have potentially damaging impacts on the renal system (as in the treatments used in COVID-19), many drugs used to treat renal issues have unfortunate effects on the cardiovascular system. This is why no change of drug should be made without considering the overall treatmnet for the patient.

Aspirin is a perfect example.... one of its effects is to thin the blood, making it effective in reducing the likelihood of thrombosis or other ailments caused by clotting. However, this also means that it is a risk to people with ulcers, etc. as it allows increased blood loss and may actually cause gastric bleeding to become apparent.

So, the problem is that whilst particular studies can emphasize particular positive or negative effects or regular usage - often the "truth" is hidden in the conditions of the test or the reliability of the outcomes reported. For example - damage caused by a high level of intake over a short period and a low level over an extended period may be completely different; A study looking at the potential impact of a drug on the renal system may ignore positive or negative impacts elsewhere, etc.; The general benefit of a treatment may far outweigh the potential for damage.

Your GP should be better able to assess the pros and cons of a specific treatment - and regular testing should indicate if a course of treatment is having positive or negative impacts in an individual case - an article commenting on statistical evidence from a study, without knowing the constraints of that study or the significance of the observed impacts is not a valid reason to start or stop treatment.
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Re: Coronavirus/COVID-19

Post by expressman33 » Fri Jun 05 2020 3:50pm

South Korea closes schools again after biggest spike in weeks
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-5 ... JU7QjlUn8c

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Re: Coronavirus/COVID-19

Post by macliam » Fri Jun 05 2020 5:06pm

expressman33 wrote:
Fri Jun 05 2020 3:50pm
South Korea closes schools again after biggest spike in weeks
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-5 ... JU7QjlUn8c
..... and they DO have a world-class tracking system.
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