A commentary by Dr. Jeffrey A. Lieberman, a psychiatrist with Columbia University’s department of psychiatry, suggests a mental health crisis is looming due to COVID-19.
The U.S. mental health care system isn’t up for this monumental challenge, in part due to “systemic deficiencies” of the mental health policy and financing system.
Social isolation is compounding the problem; out of 2,760 quarantined people, 34% experienced high levels of psychological distress, which could include anxiety or depression.
Read moreRemember last year when Washington Post reporters were boldly declaring that vitamins C and D could not (and should not) be used against respiratory infections? The information I was sharing about their use was deemed so dangerous to public health that I was branded as a "fake news" site by self-appointed, pharma-owned arbiters of truth like NewsGuard.
Read moreSince the COVID-19 outbreak began, I've covered advice for how to effectively clean your hands and disinfect surfaces around your home, but what about food, like takeout and fresh produce? Could eating contaminated food cause you to contract the illness?
Read moreCOVID-19 may lead to inflammation in your airways or fluid in your lungs, requiring mechanical ventilation to pump oxygen into your body.
If ventilator shortages continue, and the number of people who need them at one time increase, doctors may be faced with making unthinkable choices, but creative solutions have been suggested.
Read moreUV light can control the transmission of airborne-mediated microbial diseases and may be useful with COVID-19. UV light has been used to stop the transmission of C. difficile, tuberculosis, influenza and Ebola. UV light has been successful in deactivating MERS, a virus similar to SARS and COVID-19.
Unlike many medications, UV light can kill resistant viruses that have mutated.
Read moreScientists are anticipating that the lipid layer around COVID-19 will make it sensitive to heat and trigger a seasonal fluctuation, similar to flu. Yet, scientists also know pandemics do not follow seasonal patterns; until the virus becomes endemic, it may continue to spread.
Data show women have a higher survival rate than men; this is also true of the influenza virus, SARS and MERS.
Read moreThiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency syndrome (beriberi) has many similarities to sepsis — a primary cause of COVID-19 mortality — and thiamine deficiency is relatively common in critically ill patients in general.
Thiamine deficiency is prevalent in pulmonary tuberculosis, and the more severe the case, the more severe the thiamine deficiency. Thiamine has been shown to limit Mycobacterium tuberculosis by regulating your innate immunity.
Read moreIn countries where mask wearing is “extremely normal,” such as South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, they have managed to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases, keeping them from spiking.
In one study, a 75% reduction in influenza-like illness was noted among university students using hand hygiene and wearing masks in residence halls.
Read moreCountless disruptions have come from the coronavirus outbreak. Many office workers are now restricted to electronic communications, and children are home all day. A less noticed disruption is happening to those who are used to regularly working out at gyms that may now be closed.
Read moreFrom the plague to smallpox to the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, the world has overcome many overwhelming pandemics.
The World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a pandemic but also a "pandemic that can be controlled".
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