U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield agreed that some hospitals have a monetary incentive to overcount coronavirus deaths as they do deaths for other diseases.
“I think you’re correct in that we’ve seen this in other disease processes, too. Really, in the HIV epidemic, somebody may have a heart attack but also have HIV — the hospital would prefer the [classification] for HIV because there’s greater reimbursement,” Redfield said during a House panel hearing Friday when asked by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer about potential “perverse incentives.” (See link for article)
This same CDC has monetary incentives to undercount Lyme disease. They also NEVER, EVER will admit people can be chronically infected because that would stop lucrative vaccine development and manufacturing.
They can do whatever they please because they have no accountability and are allowed to own patents and have financial conflicts of interest but still determine public health policy. A true case of the fox guarding the hen-house.
The rest of the world is finally getting a taste of what Lyme patients have dealt with for over 40 years.
Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio Tests Positive, Then Negative, for Coronavirus
The governor said he felt confident in the results of a negative test that was taken hours after he tested positive while being screened to greet President Trump.
Gov. Mike DeWine tested negative for the coronavirus hours after a positive rapid-result test had prevented him from welcoming President Trump to Ohio on Thursday, a whiplash reversal that reflected the nation’s increasingly complex state of testing.
In a high-profile example of a new testing frontier, Mr. DeWine first received an antigen test, which allows for results in minutes, not days, but has been shown to be less accurate. The positive result came as a “big surprise,” said Mr. DeWine, a Republican, who had not been experiencing symptoms other than a headache.
Later on Thursday, he was tested using a more standard procedure known as polymerase chain reaction, or P.C.R., an accurate but time-intensive method that requires samples to be processed at a laboratory. His wife, Fran, and staff members also tested negative. (See link for article)
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**Comment**
And this is where testing remains…..
Important excerpt:
Public health experts say that widespread, rapid testing is necessary for quarantining and contact tracing to effectively control the virus.
This, not the virus, should frighten us.
They have been and will continue to use abysmal testing to take peoples’ freedoms away.
Are you infectious if you have a positive PCR test result for COVID-19?
August 5, 2020
Tom Jefferson, Carl Heneghan, Elizabeth Spencer, Jon Brassey
PCR detection of viruses is helpful so long as its accuracy can be understood: it offers the capacity to detect RNA in minute quantities, but whether that RNA represents infectious virus may not be clear.
During our Open Evidence Review of oral-fecal transmission of Covid-19, we noticed how few studies had attempted or reported culturing live SARS-CoV-2 virus from human samples.
This surprised us, as viral culture is regarded as a gold standard or reference test against which any diagnostic index test for viruses must be measured and calibrated, to understand the predictive properties of that test. In viral culture, viruses are injected in the laboratory cell lines to see if they cause cell damage and death, thus releasing a whole set of new viruses that can go on to infect other cells.
We, therefore, reviewed the evidence from studies reporting data on viral culture or isolation as well as reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), to understand more about how the PCR results reflect infectivity. (See link for article)
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**Comment**
In one of the best reviews I’ve read on PCR testing so far the authors point out the fly in the ointment: few studies have cultured live SARS-CoV-2 virus from human samples. This is a big deal. BIG. Without injecting live viruses into cells lines to determine infectivity, it’s all theoretical. And I’ll add one more to that: these viruses must be not only isolated but purified from all else. In the case of COVID, to my knowledge, this has not been done. According to David Crowe, all they have is pieces and parts they are labeling “virus.” This is an important distinction and quite fundamental. For a great read on this: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/03/16/does-the-coronavirus-exist/
Back to the paper on PCRtesting.…Viral cultures for COVID-19 infectivity assessment. Systematic review. Tom Jefferson, Elizabeth Spencer, Jon Brassey, Carl Heneghan medRxiv 2020.08.04.20167932; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.04.20167932
The authors reviewed 14 studies that they labeled of “moderate quality” due to being inadequately sized, lack of protocols, standardized methods and reporting and reporting bias. They hit on some interesting issues like time of testing in relation to symptom severity, viral shedding, etc. They also pointed out that time of testing is important because:
The lower the cycle threshold level the greater the amount of RNA (genetic material) there is in the sample. The higher the cycle number, the less RNA there is in the sample.
In other words, the test is picking up RNA material but the patient isn’t infected any more. The authors point out that this material can linger for weeks in the body.
The authors then sum it up by stating that the 14 studies provided limited data of variable quality of PCR results and are unlikely to predict viral culture from human samples. They state:
Insufficient attention may have been paid how PCR results relate to disease.The relation with infectiousness is unclear and more data are needed on this.
And the most important point:
If this is not understood, PCR results may lead to restrictions for large groups of people who do not present an infection risk.
Rasnick’s advice for people who want to be tested for COVID-19.
“DON’T DO IT, I SAY, WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME,” HE REPLIES. “NO HEALTHY PERSON SHOULD BE TESTED. IT MEANS NOTHING BUT IT CAN DESTROY YOUR LIFE, MAKE YOU ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE.”
INTERNATIONAL PANEL OF MEDICAL EXPERTS URGES U.S. GOVERNMENT TO STOP IGNORING INTRAVENOUS VITAMIN C AS A PROMISING OPTION TO TREAT COVID-19
Jul 21, 2020
Studies in Korea and the United States and ongoing trials in Canada and China suggest high doses of Vitamin C in patients admitted to the ICU with sepsis, including COVID-19 patients, could be the difference between life and death.
A new paper reveals promising results from the use of intravenous (IV) treatment of ascorbate or ascorbic acid — better known as Vitamin C — for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
“Given preliminary data, intravenous high-dose Vitamin C may be a life-saving treatment for patients with COVID-19 and could provide an extremely safe and low-cost treatment option that can be scaled immediately for worldwide use,” said Dr. Kogan, medical director of George Washington University’s Center for Integrative Medicine.
Dr. Kogan added, “It is imperative that Vitamin C be assessed in quality randomized trials. Unfortunately, the U.S. government appears to not be interested in financing such a trial. It is unethical to ignore growing evidence of the efficacy of IV Vitamin C and deny funding of a definitive trial.”
“Were reliable nontoxic treatments such as the use of ascorbate validated for this novel virus, this would greatly facilitate the return to a new normal for medicine and for civil society,” said Dr. Davis, president of the Environmental Health Trust. “While our findings are not definitive, they provide an important indication that there could be means to reduce mortality, along with the use of dexamethasone for advanced cases. It is imperative that these findings be taken seriously given the lack of alternative means for limiting deaths from this highly infectious pandemic agent.”
The authors report that a specialized interdisciplinary panel of medical experts in Shanghai and Guangzhou, China, in March advised treating physicians to expand clinical uses of ingested ascorbate for prophylaxis and higher dose intravenous (IV) therapy for COVID-19 and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), along with other supportive therapies, including Vitamin D and zinc.
The use of Vitamin C, a relatively low-cost and nontoxic treatment, “should be considered an important option in light of the growing impact COVID-19 is having on public health and the global economy,” said Richard Cheng, MD, PhD, first author of the report who is an American currently living in Shanghai.
Dr. Cheng is working with Chinese experts in Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing, who are carrying out the largest clinical trial of Vitamin C in history aimed at reducing deaths from COVID.
For decades Vitamin C has been known to help people with the common cold to ARDS to sepsis, which is caused by a flood of inflammatory bacterial and viral pathogens.
Cytokine storms, the explosion of free radicals that damage the body’s important biological molecules, is a prime cause of mortality among COVID-19 patients. Cytokine storms lead to uncontrolled inflammation, oxidative injury, and damage to the alveolar-capillary barrier, with secondary bacterial infection.
COVID-19 patients with infections are generally found to have depleted levels of Vitamin C in their systems.
“We need to stay vigilant and the social distancing, personal protective measures are essential, but don’t forget to focus on individual health and individual nutritional immunity,” Dr. Cheng said. “It’s cheap. It’s effective, and it’s not being talked about enough despite its successful past use in the treatment of other viral infections, including viruses similar to SARS-Cov2 like SARS and MERS.”
The article recounts that in March 2020, high-dose IV administration successfully treated 50 moderate to severe COVID-19 patients in Shanghai, China. Doses ranged from 2g to 10g per day, given over a period of eight to 10 hours, for five to seven days. For this group of recent patients, the oxygenation index improved in real time and all were discharged from intensive care and released from the hospital as of March 23, 2020. Doctors in the United States and Korea reported similar outcomes.
High-dose ascorbate has been clinically used for decades with few serious side effects, except in limited cases of carriers of G6PD, a genetic blood disorder most frequently found in males.
The doctors acknowledge that more randomized clinical trials will further validate the effectiveness of Vitamin C but stressed that during an exponentially “growing pandemic where more than a quarter of all children who are positive for COVID-19 have few or no symptoms and many transmitters of the disease are asymptomatic,” innovative approaches are needed to prevent and treat the disease.
“it was the crowning of stupidity to claim that someone could have Covid-19 without any symptoms at all or even to pass the disease along without showing any symptoms whatsoever.”
But what the article does get right is the suppression by ‘authorities’ for anything that competes with their own lucrative drugs and vaccines:
Sky News’ story about “Turkey’s COVID Detectives” by special correspondent Alex Crawford is remarkable. It not only covers the track and trace teams in action in Turkey, but also the therapeutic approach, which relies on hydroxychloroquine as a first step to treat symptomatic patients.
The Turkish approach is at odds with most countries, such as the UK, where symptomatic patients are asked to stay home, wait, until the symptoms essentially become unbearable, and then serious complications and hospitalization become very likely.
Such reporting about early treatment is typically absent from mainstream media coverage, so this coverage needs to be celebrated. The pictures are also remarkable.
“As soon as a patient has symptoms, they are treated with hydroxychloroquine tablets and/or favipiravir at home. Follow-up calls quickly spot if the symptoms worsen, and then they will be admitted to hospital.”
“Once at the hospital, Dr Yiyit says the treatment is increased and combined with high-flow oxygen treatment, anti-coagulants, steroids, vitamins and more high-dose favipiravir or hydroxychloroquine…”
“Most of patients recover in five days,” Dr Yiyit insists.”
The graph below contrasts the US results with Turkey.
Clearly the country is being misled by Dr. Fauci….
The graphs say it all. HCQ early in the game saves lives. Period.
Yet, Fauci isn’t in prison – he’s appearing on the front cover of magazines like a rock star. The general public is not aware of Fauci’s history. Tell them so they know.
BTW: This just out today: https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87945?In it we learn that Fauci spoke during a press briefing on the COVID vaccine. Contradictory things came out of his mouth – from, “We hope as a pandemic threat, that we are really on the cusp of seeing the end of it,” to “You may have some lingering of infection around that might come back in a seasonal way, but hopefully, with the technologies and vaccines, and getting much, much better in our health measures…we’ll be able to control it in a way that is not a pandemic or an epidemic threat.”
The following issues come to mind:
We ALWAYS have seasonal flu. COVID will be no different. Independent epidemiologists with no financial interests have been saying since the beginning, and they’ve not changed their tune, that death rates for COVID are nearly the same as the seasonal flu. When Fauci says COVID may come back in a seasonal way – this is exactly what he’s admitting to.
A virus typically wears itself out and become weaker over time. We know this historically. Vaccines, however, push the wild strain to mutate and essentially keeps it going. People who are vaccinated against viruses shed the virus for some time afterward infecting those around them. ‘Authorities’ don’t seem to mind this and pretty much ignore the phenomenon – because a vaccine did it and they don’t ever admit to anything negative coming from a vaccine. They would rather blame asymptomatic people with absolutely no symptoms (aren’t sick) for supposedly spreading the virus like evil phantoms – keeping the public in a vice of fear. https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87926?
This came out recently trying again to pin the spread of COVID on asymptomatic people. They reveal the truth; however, in this statement: “detection of viral RNA does not equal detection of infectious virus, and larger epidemiological studies and experiments are needed to understand the link between viral shedding and transmissibility.” This is all explained by Beda M Stadler, former director of the Institute for Immunology at the University of Bern, a biologist and professor emeritus: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/10/coronavirus-why-everyone-was-wrong/ The 3 main points from the article: Firstly, it was wrong to claim that this virus was novel.Secondly, It was even more wrong to claim that the population would not already have some immunity against this virus. Thirdly, it was the crowning of stupidity to claim that someone could have Covid-19 without any symptoms at all or even to pass the disease along without showing any symptoms whatsoever.
Notice Fauci keeps the mantra going with “technologies and vaccines.” He doesn’t ever mention the fact there are effective treatments – some of which front-line doctors are calling “cures” for COVID. This is important because there’s no need for a vaccine if there are effective treatments. This is why there’s such push-back from ‘authorities’ and mainstream media. They will never admit in 1,000 years there are effective treatments because a lucrative vaccine is in the works that they are highly vested in. Words matter and Fauci continues to tip his hand as to where his interests lie and they aren’t with true public health. They are with his vested, highly lucrative investments.
The Shunning of Nutritional Science and Self-Care in the Public COVID-19 Narrative
Editorial by Dr. Alan Palmer, Contributing Writer
[CHD Note: This is Part Three of a four-part series. In Parts One and Two I outline the case for the terrain being the most important consideration when it comes to outcomes from infectious diseases. The terrain represents the health of the individual, their nutritional status, their environmental exposures and surroundings, their access to clean water, personal and public hygiene, etc.]
Enter the spin zone
In the media coverage surrounding COVID-19, why are we hearing nothing about what each individual can do FOR THEMSELVES nutritionally in an effort to build their immune competency to resist and overcome infection? Why is the narrative all about how the pharmaceutical industry is going to “SAVE” us? Could it have something to do with the fact that the pharma-controlled media wants to convince us that we must spend billions of dollars and wait for big pharma to come to the rescue with new, expensive, proprietary and patented anti-viral drugs and a magical vaccine to rescue us from COVID-19 therefore “allowing” us to return to normal life?
I’m not even saying that it’s only nutritional options and natural alternatives that are being shunned. Even inexpensive, easy to access drugs like Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin with zinc are being played down, despite studies from around the world showing it’s efficacy. And, with a history of use for over 60 years in millions of people, it has proven to have an excellent safety record as compared to many other pharmaceutical drugs. A course of treatment is under $30 compared to Remdesivir, which costs more than $3,000. You can be sure that the antiviral drugs being developed for COVID-19 will probably exceed that cost. Let’s be honest; inexpensive, safe drugs or natural alternatives like herbal or nutritional compounds won’t provide pharma with the big payday they are banking on from COVID-19. They are opportunists, and you can bet they are going to make the most out of this opportunity.
No investment and all profit served up in a liability free environment! Can you think of a better business model … ?
Opportunistic organisms in biology are those parasites, bacteria, fungi, yeasts and viruses that take advantage of a weak host that offers them a ripe terrain for infection. These pharma opportunists are getting our government to fund the development and production of these drugs and vaccines to the tune of billions of dollars….AND they will potentially reap hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from the sales (all underwritten by each of us taxpayers). No investment and all profit served up in a liability free environment! Can you think of a better business model and financial windfall scenario for them? In the meantime, as the powers that be, drag their feet on making these inexpensive treatments available to sick patients because they have something better on the horizon, thousands of people are dying. Many unnecessarily. And, since scientists have already said that the virus can and will mutate, the magical vaccine that we have all paid for and millions are relying on, will most likely be largely ineffective in a best-case scenario and outright deadly in a worst-case scenario. Another legitimate concern would be the vaccine’s role in the development of future long-term chronic disease.
A similar situation plays out every year with the flu vaccine and its miserable rate of effectiveness, because guessing which strains will be prevalent the next season to incorporate into the vaccine is a roll of the dice. Three decades of attempts to make a coronavirus vaccine have been a miserable failure, resulting in what is called “pathogenic priming” or sometimes referred to as “immune enhancement”, which is a paradoxical response. This is where a vaccinated person, after later being exposed to the same virus has the risk of acquiring an extremely exaggerated immune reaction. This is something many top scientists and doctors in the vaccine field are warning against. It is not a great scenario when they are bragging about how fast they can get these vaccines to market and taking shortcuts in the safety studies like animal safety studies, followed by long-term human trials to make it happen. Quick to market with a shell-shocked public waiting anxiously for your product. Jackpot!
… oxidative radicals wreak havoc on the body if glutathione is in short supply.
The scientific basis for nutritional effectiveness
There are thousands of studies published that demonstrate effectiveness of various natural compounds in preventing and treating viral infections. They do that in numerous ways, but the two overarching strategies is first to prime or boost the body’s own ability to attack and destroy the pathological microbes and second, to block key biochemical pathways that the virus needs to enter the cell and proliferate. In COVID-19’s case, these pathways into the cell are called the ACE-2 receptors. The cells lining the lungs and airways are particularly rich in these receptors making the lungs a receptive target for COVID-19. Nutritional compounds can also effectively manage the high levels of inflammation and collateral damage caused by the infection, which is one of the main reasons the COVID-19 infection can reach catastrophic levels and, in some cases becomes fatal. Many reports have discussed a phenomenon that can occur called a “cytokine storm”, which is an example of an out of control inflammatory immune reaction throughout the body. The oxidative stress from this reaction causes massive collateral tissue damage. Incidentally, the cytokine storm phenomenon is not new or unique to COVID-19. The literature is replete with studies discussing it in relationship to severe influenza as well.
One example of a nutritional superhero is glutathione. Glutathione the body’s “Master Antioxidant”, is essential for successfully fighting infection and mitigating the damaging effects of the production of oxidative free radicals that are released during infection. These oxidative radicals wreak havoc on the body if glutathione is in short supply. These oxidative free-radicals are now implicated in the cause of the cytokine storm that often results in the loss of life from COVID-19. Fortunately, there are ways that you can boost your own glutathione levels. Therefore, reducing inflammation and oxidative stress naturally not only decreases the severity of the infection and risk of death, but also the long-term health altering after-effects post infection.
N-Acetyl-Cysteine or N.A.C., is another important and related compound. Studies have also shown that taking N.A.C. will not only help boost glutathione levels but may also help to prevent the formation of what is called von Willebrand Factor, an agent that is responsible for the blood clotting problems that frequently develops in COVID-19 patients.
The incredible partnership between the miraculous human immune system and nature
The biochemistry of how the intelligence of the body operates is truly remarkable. And the immune system is a symphony of players that when all working properly and in concert, make beautiful music together. Beautiful unless you are a pathogen. When working in harmony, the different players in the immune system are truly a formidable force to be reckoned with. They seek, identify and destroy the intruder. Rather than using a drug that often has risks of side effects to “kill” the infection, this approach fortifies and builds the body’s own defenses and mechanisms to fight the offending microbe and then clean up the mess and debris afterwards. This includes upregulating white blood cells and immune regulatory players like macrophages, natural killer cells (NK cells), neutrophils and monocytes. As an example, vitamin C greatly increases numbers, activity and effectiveness of macrophages, NK cells, neutrophils and monocytes. Human beings can’t make our own, so we have to get it from diet and supplementation. Vitamin C demands increase substantially during times of stress, injury and infection. Therefore, it is essential to meet those demands with increased consumption when you want your immune system to work at it’s best.
A macrophage grabbing and engulfing a pathogen
Another example of key players during infection are cytokines. Cytokines are proteins that act as cell signaling agents. Some cytokines are pro-inflammatory, and some are anti-inflammatory in action. Some pro-inflammatory response is necessary and appropriate during infection, but it needs to be kept in check to prevent raging inflammation or even an autoimmune shift causing the immune system to attack the body’s own tissues. Various natural compounds are shown to regulate these processes and keep them in balance, preventing damaging downstream effects. Those compounds include fish oil, curcumin (the active ingredient in turmeric), vitamin D, resveratrol and quercetin among others.
We will look further into the way the immune system combats infection and ways to optimize its function in the final segment of this four-part series.
Dr. Palmer’s free eBook 1200 Studies – Truth Will Prevail, now 730 pages long, includes over 1400 published studies – authored by thousands of scientists and researchers – that contradict what officials are telling the public about vaccine safety and efficacy. It has easy search and navigation features including links to article abstracts and studies on PubMed or the source journal that make it an invaluable research and reference tool. Download it free at www.1200studies.com
I must admit the current attitude of our ‘authorities’ to just slap a face mask on really gets under my skin, when there are so many helpful, productive things people can do to strengthen their immune systems. They are majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors.
The key to fighting illness has always been and will always be in making yourself a tough target.
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 