The Covid Cure?
I was sent a video with Dr. Stella Immanuel, stating about her anecdotal results using Hydroxychloroquine with her patients and asked my opinion. I figured I would share this response with everyone in hopes of enlightening people and helping to redirect the focus at this time.
In medicine, we are taught to follow what is called “Evidence Based Medicine”. There are a lot of different measures, methods, and analysis that goes into stating whether or not an outcome is statistically significant and whether it is valid. There have been multiple large, reputable, statistically significant studies that are valid that have now shown that Hydroxychloroquine is not effective in treatment or prevention of Covid. However, there are emerging treatments that do seem to be working fairly well in combination or alone in hospitalized patients. These therapies include Resdesmevir, convalescent plasma, dexamethone (in hypoxic patients), etc. Just like anything else in medicine, the treatment has to be tailored to the patient, their presentation and co-morbidities. (Co-morbidities being other medical conditions, ie. Asthma, obesity, Diabetes)
As usual, everyone is so fixated on a “cure” and they completely forget the basics, prevention! This particular virus may be a new strain but viruses have been around since the beginning of time. Science has developed immensely and we KNOW how it is transmitted and how to decrease our risk of being infected. There has not been a “cure” for viruses. There are treatments which may help to reduce the intensity and complications for many viruses but mainly these drugs help your immune system fight the virus. There are instances when treatments for certain viruses such as for Hepatitis C can cause the viral load to be so low that it is undetectable via our current technology and therefore considered to be “cured”. Viruses cannot survive on their own for a long period of time. They use our cells and hijack our cells’ mechanisms to reproduce their RNA or DNA, which then goes on to infect more cells in our bodies. Covid is an RNA virus. RNA viruses, like the flu, measles and Covid, are more prone to changes and mutations compared with DNA viruses, such as herpes, smallpox, and human papillomavirus (HPV). This is why the influenza vaccine includes several strains and why vaccination is needed yearly to update these strains. Most vaccines for viruses require boosters or multiple vaccinations. Treatments such as Tamiflu for the influenza virus do not cure the flu but again help your immune system fight it off, or target a particular enzyme of the virus that hinders its replication. These drugs do not eliminate the virus but can help keep it under control. Unlike, bacteria which can be “cured” with antibiotics.
The doctors, such as Dr. Stella Immanuel, featured on the videos, are claiming they treated a certain amount of people and have had no deaths. This is not scientific evidence, it is anecdotal evidence. It is not controlling for any other confounders. It also doesn’t say if these people would have improved regardless of treatment with this drug. I can also say I’ve “treated” many patients my self and I have had no deaths either and although I’ve seen a few people be hospitalized none were put on a ventilator. I treated them with multiple follow up visits to help keep them positive and follow up on their symptoms. I have never prescribed pharmaceutical for Covid directly. I have provided pharmaceuticals to help control symptoms or other co-morbid conditions such as asthma. I have recommended common supplements that we may have some data and not many side effects such as Vitamin C, D3, zinc, Querecetin, and Melatonin. If that is the only thing you need to make a miracle claim then maybe I have the miracle cures as well.
The science of prevention of infectious diseases has been there long before Covid. That science is tested on a daily basis at hospitals and medical facilities around the world long before covid. Such as wearing masks, washing hands, sterilizing instruments, sterile procedures, etc. Our healthcare system has been so incredibly focused on pharmaceuticals for everything that we don’t focus enough on prevention. The majority of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity can be prevented and/or possibly reversed by lifestyle changes. These are some of the most common risk factors to an unfavorable outcome to most infectious diseases including Covid19. So yes, it is important to find “treatments” which will help people that are infected battle the virus. A safe and effective vaccine will take most likely at least a couple of years to test and distribute to the masses. So, instead of sitting around arguing about “cures” what we should be doing is focusing on prevention. Instead of everyone fighting about whether or not Hydroxychloroquine is helpful or not and drawing so much attention to this controversy that has unfounded claims, instead we need to focus on preventing the continued spread of this virus and allow the scientist time to continue research on treatments and vaccines. There is plenty of scientific evidence that wearing a mask and social distancing decreases the spread of this and many other viruses such as influenza. Yet, for some reason there is still a retaliation over such measures.
Covid-19 has so many other implications other than just a mortality rate. Mortality rate refers to the number of deaths in a population over time due to a specific condition. There is also a much higher morbidity. Morbidity refers to the effects of an illness. Morbidity is the condition of being ill, diseased, or unhealthy. Although, many have had mild illness with Covid-19, many have also had prolonged courses and are now suffering from chronic conditions related to Covid-19 infection. These people are now suffering from lung, kidney, and heart problems or extreme fatigue months after initial infection. There have been incredible stories of people that were on a ventilator for several weeks. They then improved enough to spend several more weeks in rehabilitation and 4 months later they are still recovering from the illness.
The morbidity, or effects of this illness if far greater than the physical. Prevention measures and drastically improve our economy and the financial distress this pandemic is causing. Universal masking and physical distancing can reduce our exposure risk to the virus and therefore allow us to be “free”. It can improve our unemployment rate, improve the financial health of our country, allow our children to attend school in a safer manner, and most importantly allow our healthcare system to properly care for those in need and allow time for our scientists to develop novel treatments and vaccination to eventually allow us to regard Covid-19 as we do influenza. Influenza is also a possibly deadly virus but with vaccination, treatments and precautions we have been able to decrease the mortality risk. Even with influenza we can improve our mortality and morbidity rates drastically with the same measures we implement for Covid-19. Imagine that.
Covid-19 is an RNA virus. It cannot survive long without a host. Prevention is the key to conquering this virus and allowing us “freedom”. We all would like to be “over this” situation. None of us are enjoying this new way of life. I know the healthcare workers in general are exhausted, emotionally and physically.
Please spread validated facts and science. Stop allowing others to manipulate our consciousness for their own agendas.
Tania E. Velez, MD, DIMPH