6 ms·

> Interestingly, Jacobson’s team also suggests vitamin D as a potentially useful Covid-19 drug. The vitamin is involved in the RAS system and could prove helpfu

> Interestingly, Jacobson’s team also suggests vitamin D as a potentially useful Covid-19 drug. The vitamin is involved in the RAS system and could prove helpful by reducing levels of another compound, known as REN. Again, this could stop potentially deadly bradykinin storms from forming. The researchers note that vitamin D has already been shown to help those with Covid-19. The vitamin is readily available over the counter, and around 20% of the population is deficient. If indeed the vitamin proves effective at reducing the severity of bradykinin storms, it could be an easy, relatively safe way to reduce the severity of the virus.

nradov 6y ago
See Dr. Gerry Schwalfenberg's letter on the "Vitamin D hammer" for treating respiratory viruses. While not a controlled study it does point toward an avenue for further research. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463890/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463890/
shubhamjain 6y ago
This Medium article was written on March 10 [1]. "Put simply, medics found that severely ill flu patients nursed outdoors recovered better than those treated indoors. A combination of fresh air and sunlight seems to have prevented deaths among patients; and infections among medical staff.[1] There is scientific support for this. Research shows that outdoor air is a natural disinfectant. Fresh air can kill the flu virus and other harmful germs. Equally, sunlight is germicidal and there is now evidence it can kill the flu virus." [1]: https://medium.com/@ra.hobday/coronavirus-and-the-sun-a-lesson-from-the-1918-influenza-pandemic-509151dc8065 https://medium.com/@ra.hobday/coronavirus-and-the-sun-a-less...
- raverbashing 6y ago
  Yes but can it kill viruses and bacteria in vivo?
  - Enginerrrd 6y ago
    If it produces better outcomes in vivo, does it matter whether or not the proposed mechanism is correct?
    - gh02t 6y ago
      Ideally you'd like to understand the mechanism so that you can isolate and optimize the the effect, as well as predict possible interactions/side effects.
      - HeadsUpHigh 6y ago
        Ideally. In reality it rarely happens. And it's certainly not needed, the entire basis upon which evidence-based medicine is founded is that an effective intervention should be statistically measurable in it's effect regardless of our knowledge of the underlying mechanics.
  - nradov 6y ago
    Aytu BioScience is working on an ultraviolet device to kill viruses in vivo. Initial results look promising but it's too early to say whether that would be an effective therapy. https://aytubio.com/healight/ https://aytubio.com/healight/
    - Nuzzerino 6y ago
      This one was also infamously censored by social media this year.
  - WhompingWindows 6y ago
    By "it" what are you referring to? Vitamin D may have modulatory effects on the biochemical pathways linked in the original article. Most pharmaceutical products we study aren't going to directly kill bacteria or viruses, usually they have a particular physical effect on a specific molecule that then leads, through various cellular pathways, to the death or suppression of the pathogen. I highly doubt Vitamin D directly kills anything, it could modulate symptoms or the pathophysiology of COVID-19 the disease, vs. SARS-COV-2 the virus itself. If "it" means UV light, yes there are UV sterilizers aplenty today. If "it" means outdoors/fresh air, there are a lot of components to that and it's not like "fresh air" enters "in vivo" per se.
- kovek 6y ago
  That air is a natural disinfectant is super interesting. I read that vitamin D and observed benefits for those who have vitamin D is a correlation. Meaning that taking vitamin D supplements might not be as helpful as getting sunlight (a natural way to get vitamin D)
  - jmvoodoo 6y ago
    What I found interesting about this article is that it isn't based on a correlation of outcomes and vitamin D like most other results are. It's actually looking at potential mechanisms and vitamin D is coming up as a candidate.
  - mcguire 6y ago
    I don't know about air, but ultraviolet light is a pretty good disinfectant.
    - trhway 6y ago
      ozone too. And it goes inside your nose, throat, lungs.
      - robbyt 6y ago
        I'm still waiting for the results from that whole bleach in the lungs idea Trump had. Hoping that will be the cure for all of this.
    - wirrbel 6y ago
      but patients don't disinfect from the inside when exposed to outdoor air...
  - pmiller2 6y ago
    I would guess "air as disinfectant" is primarily because of its oxygen content. O_2 is actually a pretty nasty molecule like that. Oxidation is typically a fairly tough reaction to reverse or prevent.
iscrewyou 6y ago
This is discussed in this radio lab episode as well: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/invisible-allies https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/invis... Very very interesting theories as it also helped during the 1918 flu.
hinkley 6y ago
Is it my imagination or are the successes mostly coming from controlling inflammation responses?

nradov 6y ago

See Dr. Gerry Schwalfenberg's letter on the "Vitamin D hammer" for treating respiratory viruses. While not a controlled study it does point toward an avenue for further research. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463890/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463890/

shubhamjain 6y ago

This Medium article was written on March 10 [1]. "Put simply, medics found that severely ill flu patients nursed outdoors recovered better than those treated indoors. A combination of fresh air and sunlight seems to have prevented deaths among patients; and infections among medical staff.[1] There is scientific support for this. Research shows that outdoor air is a natural disinfectant. Fresh air can kill the flu virus and other harmful germs. Equally, sunlight is germicidal and there is now evidence it can kill the flu virus." [1]: https://medium.com/@ra.hobday/coronavirus-and-the-sun-a-lesson-from-the-1918-influenza-pandemic-509151dc8065 https://medium.com/@ra.hobday/coronavirus-and-the-sun-a-less...

raverbashing 6y ago
Yes but can it kill viruses and bacteria in vivo?
- Enginerrrd 6y ago
  If it produces better outcomes in vivo, does it matter whether or not the proposed mechanism is correct?
  - gh02t 6y ago
    Ideally you'd like to understand the mechanism so that you can isolate and optimize the the effect, as well as predict possible interactions/side effects.
    - HeadsUpHigh 6y ago
      Ideally. In reality it rarely happens. And it's certainly not needed, the entire basis upon which evidence-based medicine is founded is that an effective intervention should be statistically measurable in it's effect regardless of our knowledge of the underlying mechanics.
- nradov 6y ago
  Aytu BioScience is working on an ultraviolet device to kill viruses in vivo. Initial results look promising but it's too early to say whether that would be an effective therapy. https://aytubio.com/healight/ https://aytubio.com/healight/
  - Nuzzerino 6y ago
    This one was also infamously censored by social media this year.
- WhompingWindows 6y ago
  By "it" what are you referring to? Vitamin D may have modulatory effects on the biochemical pathways linked in the original article. Most pharmaceutical products we study aren't going to directly kill bacteria or viruses, usually they have a particular physical effect on a specific molecule that then leads, through various cellular pathways, to the death or suppression of the pathogen. I highly doubt Vitamin D directly kills anything, it could modulate symptoms or the pathophysiology of COVID-19 the disease, vs. SARS-COV-2 the virus itself. If "it" means UV light, yes there are UV sterilizers aplenty today. If "it" means outdoors/fresh air, there are a lot of components to that and it's not like "fresh air" enters "in vivo" per se.
kovek 6y ago
That air is a natural disinfectant is super interesting. I read that vitamin D and observed benefits for those who have vitamin D is a correlation. Meaning that taking vitamin D supplements might not be as helpful as getting sunlight (a natural way to get vitamin D)
- jmvoodoo 6y ago
  What I found interesting about this article is that it isn't based on a correlation of outcomes and vitamin D like most other results are. It's actually looking at potential mechanisms and vitamin D is coming up as a candidate.
- mcguire 6y ago
  I don't know about air, but ultraviolet light is a pretty good disinfectant.
  - trhway 6y ago
    ozone too. And it goes inside your nose, throat, lungs.
    - robbyt 6y ago
      I'm still waiting for the results from that whole bleach in the lungs idea Trump had. Hoping that will be the cure for all of this.
  - wirrbel 6y ago
    but patients don't disinfect from the inside when exposed to outdoor air...
- pmiller2 6y ago
  I would guess "air as disinfectant" is primarily because of its oxygen content. O_2 is actually a pretty nasty molecule like that. Oxidation is typically a fairly tough reaction to reverse or prevent.

iscrewyou 6y ago

This is discussed in this radio lab episode as well: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/invisible-allies https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/invis... Very very interesting theories as it also helped during the 1918 flu.

hinkley 6y ago

Is it my imagination or are the successes mostly coming from controlling inflammation responses?