[American Thinker] - I am not suggesting that we not remain alert, nor am I suggesting that we cast caution to the winds, but this present coronavirus will probably be nowhere near as deadly as many Chicken Littles are predicting.
Why?
Because, quite often, it is not the virus itself, but the secondary infections that are so deadly.
The majority of deaths during the influenza pandemic of 1918‐1919 were not caused by the influenza virus acting alone, report researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. Instead, most victims succumbed to bacterial pneumonia following influenza virus infection. The pneumonia was caused when bacteria that normally inhabit the nose and throat invaded the lungs along a pathway created when the virus destroyed the cells that line the bronchial tubes and lungs.
Did you catch that? It was bacteria, piggybacking on top of viral damage, that caused the fatalities.
However, unlike 1918, today, medicine has an arsenal of antibiotics available to fight such bacteria ‐ antibiotics that were not available in 1918. And yes, some bacteria have developed resistance, but not all. In plain terms, medicine has a better fighting chance.
In many cases, a course of antibiotics and acetaminophen (Tylenol) to control the fever might prove sufficient. However, there will be worse cases.
The 1918 flu also caused a cytokine storm, where the body's immune system over-reacted.
[T]he 1918 strain seems to trigger a particularly intense response from the immune system, including a 'cytokine storm' ‐ the rapid release of immune cells and inflammatory molecules. Although a robust immune response should help us fight infection, an over-reaction of this kind can overload the body, leading to severe inflammation and a build-up of fluid in the lungs that could increase the chance of secondary infections.
Can you say...steroids? Prednisolone was discovered in the 1950s. Variations such as prednisone, Solu-Medrol, etc. are quite common today.
Such steroids are quite powerful and work fast. They can bring down inflammation at miraculous speeds. Anyone who has had shock, an auto-immune disease, a severe arthritis flare-up, or severe asthma knows that an injection of steroids (Solu-Medrol) can often clear up the situation in a matter of minutes. Anyone who has had a transplant knows how steroids can prevent the body from rejecting a new organ.
[Solu-Medrol] is usually given by slow injection into a vein or directly into a muscle, as directed by your doctor. The dosage is based on your medical condition and response to treatment.
Today, doctors might give a patient dosages of steroids during the worst of the flu to control inflammation, swollen bronchial tubes, etc. After the initial intravenous delivery of steroids, the doctors will slowly reduce the patient down to oral prednisone, and then ideally off the steroids for good.
However, the astute will caution that steroids have side-effects.
Which we know how to deal with
| As I understand it, steroids like prednisone don’t cause problems unless used long term — irritability and increased appetite are certainly manageable in the short term... and my house always ends up cleaner thanks to the energy burst when I’m on a prednisone taper, which nobody around here complains about. Short term use sounds an awful lot less risky than letting the disease run its course. |
...Between antibiotics and steroids, the fatalities that come with flu should drastically decrease. The fatalities that come with murder ‐ a wife who kills her husband in a fit of roid rage, after he asks why she put on so much weight ‐ might see a temporary spike.
The point is that whatever this coronavirus is, it will probably not be anywhere near as deadly as former plagues were. Hospitals in the West come stocked with antibiotics and steroids. While some of the newer antibiotics are in short supply, they might not even be needed, as older antibiotics may prove sufficient.
Do not panic, not matter how much the media hypes this.
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