Madison Area Lyme Support Group

COVID-19 Drug Remdesivir Could Cost Up To $3,120 Per Patient, Maker Says

July 15, 2020

https://www.drugs.com/news/covid-19-remdesivir-could-cost-up-3-120-per-patient-maker-says-

COVID-19 Drug Remdesivir Could Cost Up to $3,120 Per Patient, Maker Says

MONDAY, June 29, 2020 — The maker of remdesivir, the first drug that showed promise in treating coronavirus infections, will charge U.S. hospitals $3,120 for a patient with private insurance, the drug company announced Monday.

Because of how the U.S. health care system is designed and the discounts that government health care programs like the VA and Medicaid will expect, the price for private insurance companies will be $520 per vial, Gilead Sciences explained in a letter. Most COVID-19 patients would need six vials of the drug over five days, the company said.

A lower price — $390 per vial — will be offered to other governments in developed countries around the world, Gilead added.

“As the world continues to reel from the human, social and economic impact of this pandemic, we believe that pricing remdesivir well below value is the right and responsible thing to do,” Gilead Chairman and CEO Daniel O’Day said in the company’s letter. (See link for article)

____________________

**Comment**

Our “authorities” have a financial conflict of interest in this expensive treatment: https://principia-scientific.org/a-tale-of-2-drugs-deep-state-chose-money-power-over-lives/ Half of the COVID treatment panel has financial ties to Gilead Sciences: https://covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/panel-financial-disclosure/

Excerpt:

Approximately $70 million in U.S. taxpayer funding began Gilead’s partnership with the U.S. Army, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop remdesivir. Initially for treating Ebola, it failed to show benefit and was shelved. If remdesivir is used to treat COVID-19, Gilead shareholders, not the taxpayers, will profit.

Going back to 1997, Donald Rumsfeld chaired the Board of Directors at Gilead and after 2001 he held share packages valued at $5-25 Million. Gilead originally developed Tamiflu. George P Shultz, US Secretary of State also was on the board. He sold stocks at a value of more than $7 million. CA governor’s Pete Wilson’s wife also sat on the board.

“‘I don’t know of any biotech company that’s’ so politically well-connected [as Gilead],‘ Andrew McDonald, of the analyst firm Think Equity Partners, told Fortune.” (Source: “Virus Mania, How the Medical Industry Continually Invents Epidemics Making Billion Dollar Profits At Our Expense”)

This article also points out an ugly conflict of interest web between Gilead, the manufacturer of Remdesivir and UNITAID which Soros, Gates, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, are large investors – with Drs. Fauci and Birx associated with the Clinton Health Access initiative. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/06/stunning-faucis-remdesivir-costs-9-per-dose-will-sold-3000-per-dose-china-company-linked-soros-will-also-mass-produce-drug/ And of course, Dr. Fauci has worked with Gilead for a long, long time.

Government employees should not be allowed to have financial ties to manufacturing companies and then turn around and make public health policy.

Remdesivir isn’t cheap. It costs between $520-$390 per vial and will be sold for $3,120 per 6 vial treatment: That’s a lot of money for a drug that hasn’t even been shown to lower viral load.

Hydroxychloroquine in the other hand costs $1 per treatment, while chloroquine costs a measly 30 cents! https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/05/11/podcast-evidence-supporting-hcq-azithromycin-for-covid-19/

Early results of the first clinical trial of remdesivir against placebo in coronavirus showed modest benefits, according to The New York Times. Surviving patients given remdesivir were discharged four days sooner than patients given placebo, though no criteria were given for determining improvement. Death rates were not significantly different. About 25% of patients receiving remdesivir had potentially severe side effects, including multiple organ dysfunction, septic shock, acute kidney injury and low blood pressure. Another 23% showed evidence on lab tests of liver damage.

Gilead’s own press release revealed the side effect of acute respiratory failure in 6% of patients in the remdesivir five-day treatment group, and 10.7% of patients in the 10-day treatment group, clearly ominous findings with a drug designed to treat respiratory failure caused by COVID-19.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/02/remdesivir-for-covid-19-not-backed-by-results/

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Activism, Treatment, Viruses

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Bartonella Rochalimae and Canine Heart Infections

https://news.ncsu.edu/2020/07/bartonella-rochalimae/

Bartonella rochalimae and Canine Heart Infections

July 7, 2020 Tracey Peake

Cute Dog — Image by Chen Vision, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

In a recently published paper, NC State researchers looked at 18 dogs infected with a strain of the bacteria Bartonella called Bartonella rochalimae. They documented the health effects of the bacteria, which included infectious endocarditis – an inflammation of the heart’s inner lining and valves – as well as more general chronic illness. The work is further evidence of the connection between B. rochalimae and both endocarditis and chronic health effects in dogs and may have implications for human health. Lead author Ed Breitschwerdt, Melanie S. Steele Distinguished Professor of Internal Medicine and Bartonella expert, sat down with The Abstract to answer some questions about the new findings.

The Abstract (TA): It looks as though the dogs in the study show evidence that this particular strain is associated not just with infectious endocarditis (IE), but also with the persistent health problems we see with infections from more common Bartonella (B. henselae, etc) species?

Breitschwerdt: That is correct. The association with endocarditis was very recent as well. So this manuscript provides further support for this species as a pathogen in dogs and humans.

Bartonella is now a well-recognized cause of what was historically culture-negative endocarditis; that is, patients (dogs and humans) with echocardiographic evidence of endocarditis and no bacterial growth using conventional blood cultures.

TA: How many strains of Bartonella have been identified to date? How is B. rochalimae different from other strains of Bartonella? Do different types of fleas or insect vectors carry particular strains, is it geography-based, or is it just luck of the draw?

Breitschwerdt: We are currently at around 40 named Bartonella species or subspecies, 10 of which have caused IE in a dog or human. Unfortunately, we have very little information in veterinary or human medicine regarding potential differences in how we should be most effectively diagnosing and treating specific Bartonella species or subspecies. Thus, most diagnostic and treatment considerations are based upon experiences with the most common Bartonella species (Bartonella henselae) that infect dogs and humans.

The genus Bartonella is unique among vector borne pathogens in the context of the wide spectrum of arthropod vectors that are known or suspected to transmit these bacteria. Yes, there are definitive geographical localizations, such as Bartonella bacilliformis, transmitted by a specific sandfly species in the mountainous Andes in Peru and Ecuador.

Alternatively, Bartonella henselae is transmitted to cats by a specific flea species throughout much of the world. Rodents and small mammals are frequently infected with specific Bartonella species in specific geographic locations by an evolutionarily adapted flea species that tends to selectively infest specific hosts or a narrow host range.

Most recently bats, infected by bat flies, have become another important reservoir for newly discovered Bartonella species. Importantly, a bat-associated Bartonella species (Candidatus Bartonella mayotenensis) was first identified as a cause of culture-negative endocarditis in a patient at the Mayo Clinic by amplification and sequencing of the bacterial DNA from the patient’s heart valve. It was several years later when bats were found to be reservoirs for this new species.

TA: Are there strains of Bartonella that aren’t associated with what we think of when we think of bartonellosis: the mimicking of chronic diseases like multiple sclerosis, migraines, seizures, etc?

Breitschwerdt: The diagnosis of infection with a Bartonella species remains challenging despite improvements in microbiological isolation and DNA detection methodologies. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer set used in our laboratory to detect other Bartonella species with a high degree of sensitivity did not find B. rochalimae DNA. This is only one of many examples of the need for more comprehensive (sensitive and specific) diagnostic tests that will clarify the role of Bartonella species in patients with migraines and seizures. We continue to work on improvements in diagnostic testing modalities, while attempting to clarify the role of Bartonella species in a spectrum of chronic diseases.

TA: Does this particular strain really “like” the aortic valve, or is that true of Bartonella generally?

Breitschwerdt: In both dogs and humans, approximately 75% of Bartonella IE cases involve the aortic valve. The remaining 20-25% involve the mitral valve or both the mitral and aortic valves. Thus it is clear that all Bartonella species to date have a predilection to localize to the aortic valve.

TA: How prevalent is IE in dogs? Is it always fatal?

Breitschwerdt: IE is a relatively uncommon disease. Depending upon the study, Bartonella can be the cause of over 1/3 of IE cases in dogs, which is remarkable as we did not know this genus infected dogs until 1993, when the first case of IE bartonellosis was documented at NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine. That is the first case of bartonellosis in a dog worldwide.

TA: Is this something that veterinarians should be taking into consideration when treating dogs with infectious endocarditis? Would it change the treatment regimen in terms of type or dosage of antibiotics?

Breitschwerdt: Yes, there are special antibiotic selection considerations when Bartonella is the suspected or confirmed cause of endocarditis. Not a good infection to have or an easy infection to treat.

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**Comment**

Again, we owe Dr. Breitschwerdt a world of gratitude for his work with Bartonella. He has single-handedly studied and brought forth research on this elusive organism that can make life miserable.

For more: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/category/bartonella-treatment/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/05/05/good-news-for-bartonella-patients-identification-of-fda-approved-drugs-with-higher-activity-than-current-front-line-drugs/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/05/11/bartonella-henselae-in-children-with-congenital-heart-disease/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/02/26/zoonotic-diseases-why-we-are-so-interested-in-bats-bartonella-mycoplasma-coronavirus/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/06/04/how-vector-borne-diseases-impact-heart-health/

https://www.envita.com/lyme-disease/bartonella-a-chronic-lyme-disease-coinfection-is-more-causing-chronic-fatigue-problems

Category:

Bartonella, research, Testing, Transmission

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FOX 35 INVESTIGATES: Florida Department of Health says some labs have not reported negative COVID-19 results

https://www-fox35orlando-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.fox35orlando.com/news/fox-35-investigates-hospitals-confirms-mistakes-in-floridas-covid-19-report.amp News Video Here

July, 2020

ORLANDO, Fla. – After FOX 35 News noticed errors in the state’s report on positivity rates, the Florida Department of Health said that some laboratories have not been reporting negative test result data to the state.

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Activism, Viruses

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The Discriminatory Statewide Shutdowns Lack Precision and Consistency, Disregard Individual Immunity, and Threaten Personal Liberty

July 14, 2020

https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-07-13-discriminatory-statewide-shutdowns-lack-precision-consistency.html

The discriminatory statewide shutdowns lack precision and consistency, disregard individual immunity, and threaten personal liberty

Monday, July 13, 2020 by: Lance D Johanson

(Natural News) A traditional quarantine is intended to isolate a person who has been veritably exposed to an infectious disease and has symptoms of the infection. A properly-conducted quarantine can reduce the spread of a new virus that has multiplied in the cells of a host body and is likely to spread into the immediate environment via the cough and sneeze of the host body’s aerosols. With COVID-19, loose inconsistent “quarantines” are being forced on most of the population, with no verification that COVID-19 is present. Even worse, discriminatory lock down and restrictions to personal liberty remain, even as 90 percent or more sick individuals test negative for COVID-19, and most who do test positive, ultimately recover with newfound immunity. Moreover, the study claiming new coronavirus can be transmitted by people without symptoms turns out to be flawed.

COVID-19 is a real threat but the American response lacks precision and has betrayed the terrain theory of disease, weakening the population long term

When scientists sequenced a new strain of coronavirus, and after preliminary studies from Wuhan, China estimated it had an R naught value between 5 and 6 (very contagious), most government and public health officials came to the consensus that statewide lock downs, the shuttering of select businesses, and stay-at-home orders were the best way to slow the spread of the new virus. In the process, individual liberty was sacrificed and a chain reaction of new problems were realized.

Because one person with COVID-19 symptoms can potentially transmit the coronavirus to 5 or 6 people in close proximity, health officials assumed that everyone would rapidly become infected and require hospitalization, causing overcrowded health systems and a lack of medical treatments. Based on data from Wuhan China, states went into lock down mode.

Not only were rights suspended during this time, but the authoritarian approach also lacked precision and consistency. Governors determined some activities to be essential – like getting alcohol, eating fast food, and crowding Wal-Mart, while other activities were deemed non-essential – such as spreading out at state parks, buying seeds, playing on park playgrounds, or getting sun at the beach (even though vitamin D deficiency is linked to worse outcomes).

The discriminatory shutdown approach lacked precision and did not accurately determine infection or exposure to infection to conduct evidence-based quarantines of people with COVID-19. Now, many people are beginning to wonder whether this inconsistent and controlling lock down approach was worth it, especially as businesses, employment, mental health, individual rights, and personal livelihoods hang in the balance. Why do we allow a hypothetical chain of infection to occur at “essential” places, but small businesses, gyms, playgrounds, beaches, and state parks remain shuttered and controlled?

As a society, have we taken the wrong approach to facing and overcoming infectious disease and will we succumb to government tyranny, which is far more dangerous?

Even though nothing was said or done to help the population mount a healthy immune response to the new virus, everyone was assumed to be infected and assumed to require hospitalization. This assumption was shortsighted, as many people who test positive might be false positive, do not exhibit symptoms at all, and may only experience mild illness. As a matter of fact, in most every state, over 90 percent of people who take the PCR test, test negative for COVID-19 and positive for other respiratory illnesses.

Still, there are some people with underlying chronic conditions, immune-deficiencies, etc. who are at greater risk of complications and death from COVID-19, or any respiratory viral infection. Most complications in NYC came from obese patients. Erroneously, restricting the movement, assembly, economic activity, and leisure of all people became the “cure” for sick individuals with underlying conditions and immune-deficiencies.

During the panic, severe cases of illness were not differentiated from mild ones, and the range of symptoms to determine COVID-19 became so broad and undefined, that healthcare professionals started listing “assumed” or “suspected” cases of COVID-19 as the provisional cause of death for many patients who had co-infections, comorbidity, or underlying health conditions that were the cause of hospitalization in the first place. The World Health Organization and National Vital Statistics officially advised health care professionals to “assume” COVID-19 cases, without confirmation. New York City’s COVID-19 death tally soared by more than 3,700 when it included the deaths of people who were suspected of having COVID-19 but were never tested. Although there is financial incentive for placing patients on ventilators, many NYC doctors report that patients are suffering from further lung damage on the machines, and they observe an 80 percent fatality rate once these devices are used. This is compounded by the fact that ventilator-associated pneumonia affects upwards of 300,000 Americans each year and could be a determining factor in mortality.

In the end, fearing asymptomatic spread from all healthy human beings may prove to be a futile approach that forces everyone to live in perpetual and irrational paranoia. The longer we fear our environment and ignore what we can do to help our individual immune systems recover, the longer it takes for the population to develop herd immunity. We will never completely control the life cycle of pathogens in a population, no matter how much we shutter people’s lives, oppress them, depress them, and plunge them into economic calamity. We must focus on strengthening the immune response of all, especially the most vulnerable, or we will be consumed by fear and perish as a nation.

Furthermore, when lock downs are lifted, people who have been stagnant in their homes, lost their jobs, stuck drinking alcohol and eating essential fast food, will become even more susceptible to infections in the coming year. Left ignorant of what they can do to overcome infections, trapped on a nutrient-void diet, and slowly dying from immune-suppressant drugs, the modern American’s cellular terrain will present a conducive environment for viruses to take hold and multiply. The terrain theory was completely ignored during this pandemic and as a result, herd immunity will be realized slowly and painfully, as people with weak immune systems continue to suffer, leading to further outbreaks, more complications, and a higher death rate to COVID-19 and a host of other respiratory infections that claim millions of lives each year.

Sources include:

______________________

**Comment**

BINGO!

One other very important point – this so called virus has never been purified. The article, Electron microscopy of SARS-CoV-2: A Challenging Task,” states:

“these observed particles in patients with COVID-19 should be best designated as virus-like particles because definitive assignment of these structures as SARSCoV-2 virions requires immuno-EM.” Electron_microscopy_of_SARS-CoV-2_a_challenging_ta

These particles have yet to be singularly purified from all else.

The article, Identification of Coronavirus Isolated from a Patient in Korea with COVID-19 also takes impure material, calls it ‘virus’, adds it to a cell culture, and observes cell death. Unfortunately, without purifying a singular pathogenic virus there is no way of knowing what exactly caused the cell death. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7045880/

This is what David Crowe talks about here: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/03/16/does-the-coronavirus-exist/

Category:

Activism, Viruses

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Woman Gets Lyme Disease Diagnosis After 13-Year Battle, As Number of Cases Rises

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/lyme-disease-amanda-kenny-1.5455668

Woman gets Lyme disease diagnosis after 13-year battle, as number of cases rises

37-year-old from Lepreau just received positive diagnosis after becoming infected in 2007

CBC News · Posted: Feb 12, 2020

*The photo on the left shows what Amanda Kenny looked like before Lyme disease began attacking her body. The photo on the right shows after 13 years with Lyme disease. (Submitted by Amanda Kenny)*

Amanda Kenny says she lived a regular life 13 years ago.

Kenny, from the Charlotte County community of Lepreau, was studying esthetics at Majestany Institute and taking care of her daughter.

“Everything was great. I was doing normal 24-year-old things, and then all of a sudden I woke up one morning and that was gone.”

Kenny, now 37 and a mother of two, has had more than a decade-long struggle with Lyme disease, a diagnosis she only received last month.

“The doctor … said to me, ‘I have never seen anyone or treated anyone with such a severe case of Lyme disease as you have.’ He did tell me that he didn’t believe he could help me.” (See link for story)

_____________________

**Comment**

Take this same story and multiply it by thousands and thousands who are going undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. This is playing out in every state and every country in the world.

Lyme/MSIDS is the ‘wall flower’ pandemic nobody wants to do anything about because it just isn’t a good money-maker like COVID.

Category:

Lyme

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Madison Area Lyme Support Group

COVID-19 Drug Remdesivir Could Cost Up To $3,120 Per Patient, Maker Says

COVID-19 Drug Remdesivir Could Cost Up to $3,120 Per Patient, Maker Says

Government employees should not be allowed to have financial ties to manufacturing companies and then turn around and make public health policy.

Bartonella Rochalimae and Canine Heart Infections

Bartonella rochalimae and Canine Heart Infections

Bartonella is now a well-recognized cause of what was historically culture-negative endocarditis; that is, patients (dogs and humans) with echocardiographic evidence of endocarditis and no bacterial growth using conventional blood cultures.

FOX 35 INVESTIGATES: Florida Department of Health says some labs have not reported negative COVID-19 results

The Discriminatory Statewide Shutdowns Lack Precision and Consistency, Disregard Individual Immunity, and Threaten Personal Liberty

The discriminatory statewide shutdowns lack precision and consistency, disregard individual immunity, and threaten personal liberty

COVID-19 is a real threat but the American response lacks precision and has betrayed the terrain theory of disease, weakening the population long term

As a society, have we taken the wrong approach to facing and overcoming infectious disease and will we succumb to government tyranny, which is far more dangerous?

Woman Gets Lyme Disease Diagnosis After 13-Year Battle, As Number of Cases Rises

Woman gets Lyme disease diagnosis after 13-year battle, as number of cases rises

37-year-old from Lepreau just received positive diagnosis after becoming infected in 2007

Lyme/MSIDS is the ‘wall flower’ pandemic nobody wants to do anything about because it just isn’t a good money-maker like COVID.

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