For everyone who is saying "I have never had Covid and ...", given the high rate of asymptomatic spread - how do you know? Have you had a recent antibody test? Kinda fascinated to know.
I have never gotten it or at least not to my knowledge. I would sure hope that there is a genetic or even T-Cell immunity that could snuff the virus out before it takes a foothold since it could lead to better vaccines/treatments. IMO I think we need to explore vaccines that can develop T-Cell immunity over B-Cells. Antibodies fade and may no longer work as well if the virus mutates, but T-Cells do not have this problem and can actually kill the virus as opposed to creating obstacles for the spread.
An antibody test isn't going to prove an old infection hasn't happened. I probably got it in early 2020 before testing was available. I had my first ever antibody test a couple of months ago for a hospitalization. It was, predictably, negative.
That's interesting. I also have never caught Covid despite everyone in family getting it (wife, kids, parents, friends, etc...). And I also take a blood thinner for my heart troubles.
Note that the study was conducted by companies that are in the business of conducting paid clinical trial for supplements manufacturers, and both were paid by the makers of XClear, so the study should be taken with a heaping grain of salt....
Especially considering that there is no other research suggesting that either xylitol or grape fruit extract is protective against COVID. Both are antimicrobials (i.e., antibacterial) but COVID is a virus.
> But Campbell said when used via a spray, it would not be absorbed by the body
This is a claim that appears to be presented entirely without evidence, and - as written - is nonsensical. Nasal insufflation is an extremely common method for administering drugs, and it's readily absorbed directly into the bloodstream.
If there's a reason he believes heparin is not absorbed through this route, that's a notable and surprising claim.
As far as I know, there’s no receptor for GAGs on cells to mediate their uptake specifically. Usually they hitchhike on some other protein that has a specific receptor/co-receptor. Heparin is actually a sulfated polysaccharide, and not like those other drugs that you might be thinking about.
I’d be a little skeptical about spraying in a bunch of heparin and hoping it binds enough of the spike protein.
This whole idea is predicated on the binding of heparin (a sulfated polysaccharide) to the spike. It’s known to be a co-receptor on cells for the spike protein, and people have designed very clever flow devices to exploit this binding to perform detection of spike. However, without carefully controlling the sulfation on heparin, I would be worried about all the other binding of proteins, and how effective this would be in real complex environments.
There are also open questions about how you would even retain the GAGs in the mucosal environment, and as I haven’t heard that they bind to mucins/mucus, I wonder how many other proteins they could possibly anchor to.
"Doesn't enter the bloodstream" "it coats the spike protein".
Seems like a nose plug or an N95 mask would be cheaper and more effective than wasting blood thinner down the back of your throat for makeshift bug repellant.
'Wondering' aloud to the press about it, though, places this firmly in Snake Oil territory. The man knows better, but he's doin' it anyways.
This is not stupid. The reporting is stupid. The way science here works:
Step 1: People come up with a hundred hypotheses
Step 2: Six of them are confirmed in preliminary studies, five by fluke (false positives) and one true positive
Step 3: The one true positive is confirmed in multiple replication studies
Step 3 is when we get to a reasonable scientific theory or scientific fact.
The problem is step 1.5 or 2.5: Popular press picks up a hypothesis as "science" or (at 2.5) as peer-reviewed science, often promoted by the original researcher.
We absolutely should be investigating heparin, ivermectin, vitamin D, zinc, and other speculative drugs for effects. Outside of exceptional circumstances, we absolutely should not be recommending those for general use until they're validated.
As a footnote, machine learning supercharges this process. It can generate countless speculative drugs very rapidly. The vast majority are nonsense, but the tiny minority which work make it still worthwhile. If we have a something with a 1% chance of curing a disease, it takes, on average, 100 similar trials to cure that disease. For major diseases, that (or even much longer-shot cures) is completely worth it.
We've been over this 100 times: very few people can wear an n95 mask correctly. Men have to be clean shaven too, and you're supposed to perform a seal test using a mint spray. They're also supposed to be one time use.
Masks of secondary effects: a global waste problem. It's time to stop promoting these as a "solution" to a non-existant problem.
I've never had Covid (as far as I know) and I dont take anything (except vaccines).
Hell my kids and wife have all had covid and the flu, and I've looked after them all and I haven't been sick beyond a dribbly nose in about 5-6 years. (oh with the exception of being bedridden for a few days FROM the vaccine :-P )
I have Cystic Fibrosis, and despite getting ill a few times during the pandemic (which is kinda par for the course with CF) I always tested negative. Even when my wife had it (and we were definitely not socially distancing before, in all the ways you'd imagine), I never tested positive.
My stepdad has never shown symptoms of (nor tested positive for) COVID, never really wore a mask properly, and has been exposed dozens of times. He even walked away unscathed despite living the house with my mom who had it twice.
Home COVID tests generally don’t show results from most asymptomatic cases even if they are actively fighting it off. It’s a question of viral loads being high enough to kick their immune system into high gear without being high enough to be easy to detect or easy to infect others.
Chances are he got COVID and fought it off without particularly noticing which isn’t in any way unusual for healthy people. 1+ million dead Americans demonstrates it’s a serious disease, but that doesn’t mean everyone was hit equally.
It's only by sheer coincidence that I learned I had it. In spite of testing twice (negative) after I developed a very slight cough following an event--which I wrote off to typical conference crud at that point--a couple weeks later I had to get tested before attending another event. (I had no symptoms of anything at that point.) And I tested weakly positive.
If I hadn't been attending the other (actually third) event, I'd never have known.
I believe that people who have been consistently super-cautious and generally avoided indoor crowds may have avoided catching it. But most people who travel, shop in stores, go to indoor events, etc. have probably had it even if they can't prove it.
Seems unlikely, but would be rather obviously amazing if it pans out. Would be fun to see a prediction market on stuff like this to get a good guide on how much faith others have in it.
I also never had covid, and never sprayed any weird shit up my nose.
But it just all has so much more meaning when there's a product to push...
I'm not particulaly introverted, did get vacinated and follow polite social practices (distancing, mask in public) but otherwise didn't take any special precautions. But then again, I'm not shilling for any product vendor either...
I also never had COVID, and the "weird shit" I put up my nose is a saline / bicarb solution in distilled water. I'll skip the brand name, but your drug store carries it.
And there are peer-reviewed studies about its efficacy.
On the other hand, I don't have kids & wasn't in crowds very much, so there's that.
> Am I alone in assuming that spraying heparin your nose would give you a terrible nose-bleed?
Seems like you're not alone.
> People can participate in the trial if they live in Melbourne, are aged over five and have a household member who is also willing to take part. People who have a heparin-induced allergy or have had recent severe nosebleeds are ineligible
I recently met an introverted and also reclusive person who was still spewing discontent about the entire covid operation, everything from its existence to the vaccine
I thought that was funny, like an internet commenter still stuck in December 2020 but in person
Not saying thats you, your comment just reminded me how disconnected some people are
[+] [-] neonate|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] NovemberWhiskey|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fsmv|2 years ago|reply
I suppose asymptomatic is possible but I also just don't go into crowded places much.
[+] [-] baja_blast|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kevin_thibedeau|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lamontcg|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Outright0133|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nelox|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] starik36|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] belltaco|2 years ago|reply
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9313533/
[+] [-] gamblor956|2 years ago|reply
Note that the study was conducted by companies that are in the business of conducting paid clinical trial for supplements manufacturers, and both were paid by the makers of XClear, so the study should be taken with a heaping grain of salt....
Especially considering that there is no other research suggesting that either xylitol or grape fruit extract is protective against COVID. Both are antimicrobials (i.e., antibacterial) but COVID is a virus.
[+] [-] autoexec|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chimeracoder|2 years ago|reply
This is a claim that appears to be presented entirely without evidence, and - as written - is nonsensical. Nasal insufflation is an extremely common method for administering drugs, and it's readily absorbed directly into the bloodstream.
If there's a reason he believes heparin is not absorbed through this route, that's a notable and surprising claim.
[+] [-] hirenj|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hirenj|2 years ago|reply
This whole idea is predicated on the binding of heparin (a sulfated polysaccharide) to the spike. It’s known to be a co-receptor on cells for the spike protein, and people have designed very clever flow devices to exploit this binding to perform detection of spike. However, without carefully controlling the sulfation on heparin, I would be worried about all the other binding of proteins, and how effective this would be in real complex environments.
There are also open questions about how you would even retain the GAGs in the mucosal environment, and as I haven’t heard that they bind to mucins/mucus, I wonder how many other proteins they could possibly anchor to.
[+] [-] bradgranath|2 years ago|reply
"Doesn't enter the bloodstream" "it coats the spike protein".
Seems like a nose plug or an N95 mask would be cheaper and more effective than wasting blood thinner down the back of your throat for makeshift bug repellant.
'Wondering' aloud to the press about it, though, places this firmly in Snake Oil territory. The man knows better, but he's doin' it anyways.
Should tell ya somethin'.
[+] [-] frognumber|2 years ago|reply
Step 1: People come up with a hundred hypotheses
Step 2: Six of them are confirmed in preliminary studies, five by fluke (false positives) and one true positive
Step 3: The one true positive is confirmed in multiple replication studies
Step 3 is when we get to a reasonable scientific theory or scientific fact.
The problem is step 1.5 or 2.5: Popular press picks up a hypothesis as "science" or (at 2.5) as peer-reviewed science, often promoted by the original researcher.
We absolutely should be investigating heparin, ivermectin, vitamin D, zinc, and other speculative drugs for effects. Outside of exceptional circumstances, we absolutely should not be recommending those for general use until they're validated.
As a footnote, machine learning supercharges this process. It can generate countless speculative drugs very rapidly. The vast majority are nonsense, but the tiny minority which work make it still worthwhile. If we have a something with a 1% chance of curing a disease, it takes, on average, 100 similar trials to cure that disease. For major diseases, that (or even much longer-shot cures) is completely worth it.
[+] [-] exabrial|2 years ago|reply
Masks of secondary effects: a global waste problem. It's time to stop promoting these as a "solution" to a non-existant problem.
[+] [-] grouchomarx|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] senectus1|2 years ago|reply
Hell my kids and wife have all had covid and the flu, and I've looked after them all and I haven't been sick beyond a dribbly nose in about 5-6 years. (oh with the exception of being bedridden for a few days FROM the vaccine :-P )
[+] [-] bdcravens|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] binarymax|2 years ago|reply
I keep telling him I want to send him to a lab.
[+] [-] Retric|2 years ago|reply
Chances are he got COVID and fought it off without particularly noticing which isn’t in any way unusual for healthy people. 1+ million dead Americans demonstrates it’s a serious disease, but that doesn’t mean everyone was hit equally.
[+] [-] ghaff|2 years ago|reply
If I hadn't been attending the other (actually third) event, I'd never have known.
I believe that people who have been consistently super-cautious and generally avoided indoor crowds may have avoided catching it. But most people who travel, shop in stores, go to indoor events, etc. have probably had it even if they can't prove it.
[+] [-] taeric|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] johnea|2 years ago|reply
I also never had covid, and never sprayed any weird shit up my nose.
But it just all has so much more meaning when there's a product to push...
I'm not particulaly introverted, did get vacinated and follow polite social practices (distancing, mask in public) but otherwise didn't take any special precautions. But then again, I'm not shilling for any product vendor either...
[+] [-] cavisne|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AlbertCory|2 years ago|reply
And there are peer-reviewed studies about its efficacy.
On the other hand, I don't have kids & wasn't in crowds very much, so there's that.
[+] [-] diyseguy|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sambeau|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chimeracoder|2 years ago|reply
Seems like you're not alone.
> People can participate in the trial if they live in Melbourne, are aged over five and have a household member who is also willing to take part. People who have a heparin-induced allergy or have had recent severe nosebleeds are ineligible
[+] [-] lamontcg|2 years ago|reply
I'm just introverted and don't have kids.
[+] [-] pwython|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TillE|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wnevets|2 years ago|reply
Kids have the to be the biggest spreaders of sickness in the US.
[+] [-] yieldcrv|2 years ago|reply
I thought that was funny, like an internet commenter still stuck in December 2020 but in person
Not saying thats you, your comment just reminded me how disconnected some people are