The warmer weather, crowds at the beach, and French cafes open for business... most of our countries are past the peak of cases and deaths and it feels like such a relief to know that there may be an end in sight. It is good to see downward trends on the graphs.
There is much we are still learning about the COVID-19, like whether it is the same virus everywhere as found in this controversial, almost crazy study or figuring out how fast it mutates as talked about in this standard article.
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Some positive and interesting news:
A promising albeit small study out of Houston,Texas showed that 76% of patients improved after being treated with a serum made from the blood of recovered COVID-19 patients. The exciting thing about this study is it's status of 'peer-reviewed', meaning that it is has been accepted as good research and therefor hospitals can use it as treatment. Along with this study, the hospital has treated other severe COVID-19 patients with this treatment with good results. The NHS is using this as a treatment now, too, as well as running a new clinical trial. The best thing about this treatment is that there are no side effects!
Another preliminary study out of The Netherlands has shown that a patient's levels of vitamin K impacts their outcome in severe COVID-19 infection. Higher vitamin K levels are not only protective against blood clots that form in the severe stage of the infection, but also help prevent
degradation of special lung fibers called elastin as shown in this 2019 study. The lead researcher is encouraging people to increase their consumption of vitamin K foods, especially in the form of vitamin K2 which is easier for the body to absorb and use. An interesting fact is that vitamin K2 works with vitamin D in the body and both vitamins seem to play important roles in protecting the body during corona virus infection.
Take aways:
Stick to good public health measures to continue to protect vulnerable people until the growing knowledge about the corona virus leads to a sure treatment
Keep working to make yourself as healthy as possible to fight off any infection. Eat vitamin K rich foods and follow the other measures to keep your body strong.
If you have already had COVID-19, donate your blood to the current NHS trial to help treat people suffering now.
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