April 18, 2020
The Long Haul
Day 30
It is a virus. It kills people. There is no cure, no vaccine. There is no miracle drug on the near or distant horizon. And there is no bomb-proof, works-every-time treatment.
Covid-19?
Yes! But also:
The Common Cold.
The common cold is a rhinovirus and American adults on average come down with a cold two to four times a year. Women catch colds more frequently than men, according to one study. Villanova University warned its students recently to take precautions because Americans catch colds about one billion times every year.
The common cold leads to other disease, typically viral and bacterial pneumonia but also less obvious conditions like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD,) a lung disorder that includes emphysema. So the common cold is a killer because it can and does morph into conditions that end lives.
This is now the standard being used to determine the causes of death in the coronavirus outbreak. If a Covid-19 nursing-home-patient contracts and succumbs to pneumonia or their diabetes suddenly causes their kidneys to fail, it is reported as a coronavirus death.
So it is fair to say the common cold kills people. And what does it tell us about the search for a cure or treatment for Covid-19?
First there is a widespread myth out there especially among seniors who believe: “Viruses can not be cured” or even treated efficiently and effectively
Not true!
This myth is perpetuated, I believe, because scientists have never solved the riddle of the common cold.
Scientists have cured several viruses, meaning a vaccine has been developed and the disease has been eradicated. Think Jonas Salk and polio and Edward Jenner and smallpox, both worldwide killer viruses that have disappeared. Jenner, a Brit doc, developed the first smallpox vaccine way back in 1796!
Scientists have also learned how to effectively manage thorny, once-thought-to-be-uncontrollable viruses with medication and lifestyle treatments. HIV is a virus that not long ago was viewed as a high-speed, no-egress highway to AIDs and a long, painful death. Today an HIV diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. Think Magic Johnson, the LA Laker star was was diagnosed in 1991 and today is a poster child for the proper treatment of the once deadly condition.
So why does the common cold elude a treatment and a cure? It is not for lack of trying, serious studies have been underway for the last 70 years. One problem is that there are between 160 and 200 different rhinoviruses that produce most common cold symptoms. Some researchers believe a treatment would have to address about half of the different strains to be effective. The enormity of the challenge has discouraged some researchers.
There is hope. Other viruses have multiple strains and cocktail drugs have been developed to produce vaccines and treatments. The polio vaccine was found to work effectively when a cocktail drug was developed to attack three distinct strains. Polio, the scourge of early and mid 20th century was gone by the 1980s. To learn that polio lingered so long after a vaccine was widely distributed surprised me. I was treated with the Salk vaccine in my classroom in 1956 and again in 1957. The last reported case in the United States was 1979.
Researchers believe a vaccine for the common cold will be found. No one is willing, however, to put a date-certain on when a deliverable vaccine will be available.
What does this tell us about Covid-19? It tells me to prepare for the long haul.
I believe Anthony Fauci when he says that a treatment and vaccine will be found. His 12-18 month timetable is less comforting; it smacks of political expediency. No one can accurately predict when a vaccine and or treatment will be developed and be ready for delivery to hundreds of millions of people world wide. Americans have a short time horizon. They need a timeframe that offers hope. Dr. Fauci, the most trusted medical professional in America today, offers that hope.
I like Dr. Fauci and I trust what he says. But he does work for Donald Trump!
The Spanish flu killed 50 million worldwide and 600,000 Americans in two, some say three waves. Many of those deaths were the result of untreatable, secondary bacterial infections. Modern antibiotics were not available to treat those illnesses back then.
The Spanish flu was an indiscriminate killer. It became, like the Black Death in 14th century Europe, an indelible part of the human landscape. It took children’s lives as freely as the elderly and affected everyone.
Some bright kid developed a ditty back then to sum up the big, scary world. It was called “Enza.”
“I had a little bird,
It’s name was Enza,
I opened up the window,
And in flew enza.”
Yes the Spanish pandemic was a bird flu, so the Covid-19 metaphor is imperfect.
Still there is a lesson there.
Keep your distance and your windows closed.
Be safe!
The Long Haul
Day 30
It is a virus. It kills people. There is no cure, no vaccine. There is no miracle drug on the near or distant horizon. And there is no bomb-proof, works-every-time treatment.
Covid-19?
Yes! But also:
The Common Cold.
The common cold is a rhinovirus and American adults on average come down with a cold two to four times a year. Women catch colds more frequently than men, according to one study. Villanova University warned its students recently to take precautions because Americans catch colds about one billion times every year.
The common cold leads to other disease, typically viral and bacterial pneumonia but also less obvious conditions like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD,) a lung disorder that includes emphysema. So the common cold is a killer because it can and does morph into conditions that end lives.
This is now the standard being used to determine the causes of death in the coronavirus outbreak. If a Covid-19 nursing-home-patient contracts and succumbs to pneumonia or their diabetes suddenly causes their kidneys to fail, it is reported as a coronavirus death.
So it is fair to say the common cold kills people. And what does it tell us about the search for a cure or treatment for Covid-19?
First there is a widespread myth out there especially among seniors who believe: “Viruses can not be cured” or even treated efficiently and effectively
Not true!
This myth is perpetuated, I believe, because scientists have never solved the riddle of the common cold.
Scientists have cured several viruses, meaning a vaccine has been developed and the disease has been eradicated. Think Jonas Salk and polio and Edward Jenner and smallpox, both worldwide killer viruses that have disappeared. Jenner, a Brit doc, developed the first smallpox vaccine way back in 1796!
Scientists have also learned how to effectively manage thorny, once-thought-to-be-uncontrollable viruses with medication and lifestyle treatments. HIV is a virus that not long ago was viewed as a high-speed, no-egress highway to AIDs and a long, painful death. Today an HIV diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. Think Magic Johnson, the LA Laker star was was diagnosed in 1991 and today is a poster child for the proper treatment of the once deadly condition.
So why does the common cold elude a treatment and a cure? It is not for lack of trying, serious studies have been underway for the last 70 years. One problem is that there are between 160 and 200 different rhinoviruses that produce most common cold symptoms. Some researchers believe a treatment would have to address about half of the different strains to be effective. The enormity of the challenge has discouraged some researchers.
There is hope. Other viruses have multiple strains and cocktail drugs have been developed to produce vaccines and treatments. The polio vaccine was found to work effectively when a cocktail drug was developed to attack three distinct strains. Polio, the scourge of early and mid 20th century was gone by the 1980s. To learn that polio lingered so long after a vaccine was widely distributed surprised me. I was treated with the Salk vaccine in my classroom in 1956 and again in 1957. The last reported case in the United States was 1979.
Researchers believe a vaccine for the common cold will be found. No one is willing, however, to put a date-certain on when a deliverable vaccine will be available.
What does this tell us about Covid-19? It tells me to prepare for the long haul.
I believe Anthony Fauci when he says that a treatment and vaccine will be found. His 12-18 month timetable is less comforting; it smacks of political expediency. No one can accurately predict when a vaccine and or treatment will be developed and be ready for delivery to hundreds of millions of people world wide. Americans have a short time horizon. They need a timeframe that offers hope. Dr. Fauci, the most trusted medical professional in America today, offers that hope.
I like Dr. Fauci and I trust what he says. But he does work for Donald Trump!
The Spanish flu killed 50 million worldwide and 600,000 Americans in two, some say three waves. Many of those deaths were the result of untreatable, secondary bacterial infections. Modern antibiotics were not available to treat those illnesses back then.
The Spanish flu was an indiscriminate killer. It became, like the Black Death in 14th century Europe, an indelible part of the human landscape. It took children’s lives as freely as the elderly and affected everyone.
Some bright kid developed a ditty back then to sum up the big, scary world. It was called “Enza.”
“I had a little bird,
It’s name was Enza,
I opened up the window,
And in flew enza.”
Yes the Spanish pandemic was a bird flu, so the Covid-19 metaphor is imperfect.
Still there is a lesson there.
Keep your distance and your windows closed.
Be safe!
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