COVID Advisor

Hydroxychloroquine was discovered during efforts to synthesize alternatives to quinine as anti-malarials. Is quinine similar to hydroxychloroquine? Hydroxychloroquine and quinine are both anti-malarial drugs. However, hydroxychloroquine is not the same as quinine as hydroxychloroquine is a synthetic drug while quinine is a naturally occurring compound found in cinchona bark.  Quinine, was first recognized as a potent antimalarial agent hundreds of years ago. Since then, the beneficial effects of quinine and its more advanced synthetic forms, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, have been increasingly recognized in a myriad of other diseases in addition to malaria. Hydroxychloroquine, developed in the 1950s from chloroquine, an old anti-malarial drug, is registered in around 60 countries under trade names such as Plaquenil, Quensyl and Plaquinol.   Hydroxychloroquine,  a less toxic derivative of Chloroquine  is a widely used medication by people with lupus or arthritis.  Hydroxychloroqui

Approximately 10% of people who’ve had COVID-19 experience prolonged symptoms — that is, longer than the typical two weeks. In some cases, weeks and months longer. There are people who experience relapses after they’ve appeared to make a full recovery. Long Haulers Symptoms Their typical symptoms can include:  Cognitive issues Erratic heartbeat Fatigue Gastrointestinal issues Intolerance to physical or mental activity Low-grade fever Muscle and joint pain Shortness of breath NB: A syndrome is not a disease. It’s a group of signs and symptoms that may accompany more than one specific disease. In this case, the syndrome affects some people who have contracted the virus that causes COVID-19 and can mimic the symptoms of other, seemingly unrelated diseases. COVID-19 long haulers report that these symptoms flare up unpredictably. They are often in different combinations and can be debilitating for days and

Bruce Patterson  MD is a former Stanford researcher with quite a record. The former Medical Director of Diagnostic Virology at Stanford University Hospitals and Clinics, Patterson has co-authored around 90 papers – most prior to 2011 – at about the time he left the University and created the incellDx diagnostic laboratory. Over the past ten years, incellDx has focused mostly on  cancer screening  and has produced products to test for HPV, CMV, antibodies, and others. Over the past two years, though, Patterson has jumped back into the publication field, co-authoring  7 papers on COVID-19  with more to come. In June of 2020, Patterson reported that he’d identified the cause of the so-called  “cytokine storm” in COVID-19. “When we were developing a cytokine quantification assay for possible COVID trials in China, we discovered that infected patients had consistently high levels of CCL5/RANTES in plasma which in some cases was 100 times normal depending on the severity of the disease.” Pat