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Medicine

Cocktail of Flu, HIV Drugs Appears to Help Fight Coronavirus: Thai Doctors (reuters.com) 51

Posted by EditorDavid from the good-news dept.
An anonymous reader quotes Reuters: Thai doctors have seen success in treating severe cases of the new coronavirus with combination of medications for flu and HIV, with initial results showing vast improvement 48 hours after applying the treatment, they said on Sunday...

"This is not the cure, but the patientâ(TM)s condition has vastly improved. From testing positive for 10 days under our care, after applying this combination of medicine the test result became negative within 48 hours," Dr. Kriangska Atipornwanich, a lung specialist at Rajavithi, told reporters.
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Cocktail of Flu, HIV Drugs Appears to Help Fight Coronavirus: Thai Doctors More

Cocktail of Flu, HIV Drugs Appears to Help Fight Coronavirus: Thai Doctors

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  • Really?
    "Normal" influenza kills and sickens more than this...
    Actually we need something that indiscriminately culls the population; ok maybe not entirely indiscriminate, IQ based... with the exam set in whatever language I speak of course...

    • Uh, no. Influenza is far less deadly than this virus.

      • "Uh, no. Influenza is far less deadly than this virus."

        The latest FluView surveillance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that as of January 18, 2020, there have been 15 million cases of flu, 140,000 hospitalizations, and 8200 deaths in the US this influenza season.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by EvilSS ( 557649 )
          For the same number of infected, we would expect around 600,000 deaths (2%) for this coronavirus based on current numbers.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        It's hard to estimate the fatality rate for the corona virus, but best estimates put the seasonal flu at about twice the fatality rate.

        • It's hard to estimate the fatality rate for the corona virus, but best estimates put the seasonal flu at about twice the fatality rate.

          As I compute it you're low by a factor of about 34, and nCoV has about 17 times the fatalaty rate of seasonal flu.

          Every set of numbers I've seen on fatality so far work out to a bit above 2%. Caveats:
          - When dividing deaths by cases I'd expect the actual rate to be higher, because it doesn't count the ones who are sick but haven't died yet.
          - Early numbers are

          • Now 2.2% is a lot better than a coupe other coronaviruses: SARS at 95% and MERS at 34.55.

            Three typos in that. Ack! Should read:

            Now 2.2% is a lot better than a couple other coronaviruses: SARS at 9.5% and MERS at 34.5%.

            (No change to the item at issue: That current numbers say nCoV's mortality rate is about 17 times worse than seasonal flu.)

          • The 2.2 number is flawed because it assumes that everyone not already dead will recover. It's guaranteed to be higher for the initial outbreak.
    • It possibly is since we don't really have a good handle on how deadly this is. Even though the seasonal flu kills more people in total, it's also something that's contracted by a much larger part of the population and only kills a small number of people who catch it, typically the elderly or people with compromised immune systems. If this is capable of killing people who are healthier, then it becomes a big concern if it spreads into the general public in the same way the flu does.
    • Here, you can see how it impacts. [worldometers.info]
      And note that this is based on what CHina reports, which is known to be full of lies. As such, it is almost certain that the wuhan death rate is actually higher. Question is, how high? We will find out shortly.

    • "Actually we need something that indiscriminately culls the population; ok maybe not entirely indiscriminate, IQ based."

      We already have that, the stupid don't take vaccines and ditto for their kids.
      Think of it as evolution in action.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      Well it depends. Scientists are still trying to figure out the R0 for this Coronavirus, but right now it looks to be more than seasonal Flu. That means it's more contagious by anywhere from 20% to 200% (R0 estimates vary quite a bit right now). It's also deadlier based on current numbers. About 2-3% of those confirmed infected die. For seasonal flu, it's about 0.1%. Some nastier strains are a lot higher. H7N9 was between 20-40% (varied by location), but lucky for us not easily transmitted human to human. Al

  • Not surprising (Score:3)

    by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Sunday February 02, 2020 @02:21PM (#59682066) Journal
    Hiv/Flu are both RNA virus. For these to replicate, they have to undergo reverse transcription to incorporate into the DNA. These Hiv and Flu drugs simply block reverse transcription. However, long-term use of these can be harmful.
  • We've learned from bitter experience that indiscriminate use of antibiotics has eroded the effectiveness of many/most, as the infections that would previously have been defeated develop resistance to these infections.

    I'm not for one moment suggesting that we should withhold life-saving treatment from people, but would it be wise to also understand the implications of what we're doing here. The sheer numbers of people now known to be infected means the chances of someone failing to complete their full cou
    • The treatments look promising, but do nothing to change or alter the habits of people, cultures, and particularly politics within a country. A New York Times report today also notes that China's government (in the midst of it's own political season) was, at first, engaged in the usual hush-up behavior mode when news first broke around the new year. Only as the realities of global travel, the internet, and remembering the lessons of SARS and MERS did positive actions finally begin. Politicians, and partic
  • Frequent careful hand-washing fights it even better. But don't just take it from me [medscape.com]. The press loves these fucking outbreaks, and we doctors hate them for it. Let's fill up all the emergency rooms with hypochondriacs once again so that serious patients can die in the hallways waiting for triage... The mortality seems to be about 3-5%. Sucks if you're in that group - but there are far worse things you can catch, believe me. 5% mortality means 95% survival. Move on and keep washing your hands.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kcelery ( 410487 )

      Alcohol spray was found to be a effective way to kill the virus. The trouble is, when there is a few cases of infection, face mask and alcohol would quickly be sold out.

  • Thuja orientalis (Score:3)

    by hAckz0r ( 989977 ) on Sunday February 02, 2020 @04:33PM (#59682416)

    There is sufficient research that shows that compounds in the plant Thuja orientalis gives a significant boost to the human immune system to help fight off viral infections. It primes and activates the macrophages so that they are ready to fend off viral infections, and it has been demonstrated to lessen the severity and reduce the time of the infection.

    If your immune system is primed already it should also significantly raise the bar on the number of viruses it would take to become initially infected. This has not been studied to my knowledge, but it does make sense that it should help prevent getting sick in the first place, and reduce the severity if you do. The best thing is you do not have to wait until you are in intensive care to receive those expensive ant-HIV cocktails.

    There are several products available if you simply search for Thuja and colds or flue. I won't push any particular product.

    Here is research on Google Scholar:

    https://scholar.google.com/sch... [google.com]

  • You get better if you do nothing. You get better if you take meds.

    Placebo effect? No trials have been done.

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