Updated and Bumped with this note from Andrew Gaiziunas.
Just popping in to say hello and add some context before anything gets out of hand.
Me and my dad (retired M.D.) were intrigued by the possibilities behind this particular piece of research coming across my desk yesterday morning: https://chemrxiv.org/articles/COVID-19_Disease_ORF8_and_Surface_Glycoprotein_Inhibit_Heme_Metabolism_by_Binding_to_Porphyrin/11938173/5
Being all stuck at home under quarantine, we wanted to learn more. My dad provided the medical knowledge, I provided the tech & sleuthing skills, and we came up with this core hypothesis. As we pulled together a series of anecdotal data, some pre-prints, and even some peer-reviewed papers, a clearer picture of the hypothesis formed. We found missing pieces precisely where we thought we would. And yes, we became convinced this is not only plausible but quite likely (or a similar mechanic) to be the case.
I threw it up on Medium just to save a copy and see if anyone would have feedback. We got plenty — much over both of our heads, some out-of-left-field fantastic ideas. For example, if this turns out to be the case, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy might save lives (we have far fewer hyperbaric chambers in the US than ICU beds), a mountain climber suggested portable hyperbaric bags which are pretty cheap (in comparison) and can fit through hospital doors could do the trick.
This was precisely the type of interaction we were looking for.
The article has since been taken down by Medium, but it seems it garnered sufficient interest in the 12 hours it was up as to be handed off to much more qualified and experienced hands. We’re hopeful some of this can be found to be useful; it may or may not, but NOT sharing it would have weighed heavier on our minds if we found out later this theory, or something similar to it, could have helped save lives and yet we did nothing about it.
Cheers and best of luck, everyone stay safe and thanks.
-AG
Thank you, Andrew. The original post continues below.
This article is currently percolating across social media and may begin to gain traction in the coming days: Covid-19 had us all fooled, but now we might have finally found its secret. (Now deleted, copy here)
It makes for a compelling read, no question. And it may even be a valid hypothesis, and at least one of the responses lends it legitimacy, as perhaps does this. ⇽ Read it.
But it’s also written under a pseudonym, “libertymavenstock”.
With a few minutes of sleuthing, I found the identity of the author — Andrew Gaiziunas along with his Youtube channel on cryptocurrencies, and an interview. It had 7 views as of this morning. So buyer beware should it pop up in your travels. (Update: He is likely the son of a retired Illinois doctor of the same name.)
It would be useful if our readers in the medical field would chime in.
Fair warning: to anyone veering off topic or jamming up the threads with conspiracy jackshit – prepare to be disappeared.
But I also stumbled upon this during my trip down the rabbit hole, and this is probably as good a place to share it as anywhere. By Dr.Cameron Kyle-Sidell who is treating COVID-19 patients in New York City. Patients need OXYGEN NOT PRESSURE!!! The ventilators may be causing lung damage because of PRESSURE. Needs to be immediately investigated.
And more here.
“These patients as far as I can see, do not experience respiratory fatigue. It seems to be a pure hypoxemic failure. […] the constellation of symptoms seems to most mirror that of decompression pulmonary sickness or high altitude sickness.”
Italian paper that also describes this phenomenon: Covid-19 Does Not Lead to a “Typical” Acute Respiratory
Distress Syndrome (pdf)
Update: Our own DrD weighs in.
Also, from the comments:
This might be a reach but as a physician I’ve been aggressively treating patients here in the west with the hydroxychloroquine+high dose zinc (200mg per day)+azithromycin with good results but started getting even better when we added a true functional glutathione. We were awarded a patent on this product last year and are currently seeking several further patent continuations (along with international patents) as we were planning to create a biotech around it (meaning we already have the financing/investment and know it works like it should — first one to truly work or to be validated — the only one that works in the marketplace). And after reading these comments and this great article we believe we now know what it was doing and why — it helps prevent the cytokine cascade/storm in the lungs and the overwhelming oxidative stress as mentioned and when used along with hydroxychloroquine probably helps resolve the porphyrin problem more effectively. It is also extremely antiviral (macrophages use it to attack viruses) which is some of our first NDIs for which we are going after with the FDA. But these are all mostly just theories buttressed with the recent clinical knowledge gained by treating a lot of sick patients.
Hope this helps the thoughts and conversation.
Much appreciated.
This whole discussion is too political, in my opinion. I’ll try to leave politics out of this. (I’m a retired biologist, and want to examine the science. I’m also planning to vote for Trump, so I hope no one will think that my disagreement with the article is based on TDS.)
Here we go.
In the following critique, I’m not going to comment on basic science. (For example, “red blood cells carry oxygen.” Yes, of course they do, no need for a fact-check.)
Claim: COVID-19 causes prolonged and progressive hypoxia (starving your body of oxygen) by binding to the heme groups in hemoglobin in your red blood cells There is no ‘pneumonia’ nor ARDS.
***False as written. Both of these are symptoms of COVID 19. However: the author’s next sentence is correct. It’s not the type for which familiar treatments work.
Claim: Hypoxemia is a symptom, but the cause has only been assumed to be the lung damage.
***This is true, but that assumption is based on the fact that the virus binds to respiratory epithelia.
(NOTE: a hypothesis is not a statement of fact, but rather, a testable guess, from which predictions which may be proven or disproven follow.) Author’s hypothesis: damage to hemoglobin is the actual cause of the hypoxemia.
***Prediction: chemical analyses of a patient’s erythrocytes will show abnormalities. (This is testable.)
Claim: COVID-19 causes prolonged and progressive hypoxemia (starving your body of oxygen) by binding to the heme groups in hemoglobin in your red blood cells.
***This seems unlikely if not impossible, based on the mechanism the virus uses to enter cells.
Claim: Covid-19’s glycoproteins bond to the heme.
***This is false. SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 bind to ACE2 receptors on the OUTSIDE of cells, and to the best of my knowledge, coronaviruses cannot infect erythrocytes. I have been unable to find ANY indication that either SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-2 affect erythrocytes directly. As an aside: chloroquine HAS been shown to inhibit the binding of the SARS-CoV to ACE2, so this doesn’t imply that the drug won’t work. (Vincent MJ, Bergeron E, Benjannet S, Erickson BR, Rollin PE, Ksiazek TG, Seidah NG, Nichol ST. Chloroquine is a potent inhibitor of SARS coronavirus infection and spread. Virol J. 2005 Aug 22;2:69. PubMed PMID: 16115318; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1232869.)
HOWEVER: Covid-19 could cause erythrocyte damage and iron-release by other mechanisms. (This is a hypothesis, but it leads to an easily checked prediction: erythrocytes or lung effluvia will be found to contain free iron, which is definitely an abnormal condition. This is an easy experiment. I did similar ones as an undergraduate when I studied analytical chemistry.)
Note that free iron in the lungs would, indeed, lead to bilateral pneumonia, and also that loss of iron from heme would, indeed, lead to hypoxemia.
Claim: Covid-19 causes bilateral damage, but other forms of pneumonia rarely do.
***This is false. Bilateral pneumonia, aka double pneumonia, is extremely common.
Fact-check Note: The nucleic acid in coronaviruses is RNA, not DNA.
OK, here’s my take-home: The author presented an interesting hypothesis: damage to erythrocytes (that is, damage to the heme IN erythrocytes) is the actual cause of Covid-19 induced hypoxemia. There is no evidence to support it – but neither is there any evidence that I can find to refute it. It’s so easily checked that an advanced undergraduate could do the experiments, and so it might be worthwhile to check, despite the lack of preliminary evidence.
Censorship note: it would, in my opinion, have been better if Medium had allowed a rebuttal rather than deleting the original post.
James Thorpe
Gonna have to jump in here. In early March, several Doctors commented that what it appears they are working with is Carbon Dioxide or Carbon Monoxide poisoning actually. And to address there is no proof of heme binding, there is and has been for over a month now. One common trait of SAR-CoV-2 patients is low hemoglobin, high heme, and high serum ferritin to absorb the iron ions. You can review the study here https://chemrxiv.org/articles/COVID-19_Disease_ORF8_and_Surface_Glycoprotein_Inhibit_Heme_Metabolism_by_Binding_to_Porphyrin/11938173/4?fbclid=IwAR0QY8i2QDIIPjQ2MIqQha3g7DlaPnC05Mt2spjpUJptNPruX7ijR1k9LRA
A bit difficult to trust the reliability of a supposedly scientific article that prompones that Malaria is caused by bacteria, the hydroxychloroquine works by targeting DNA and given the majority of the population is responding positively to portocols used when treating PNA/ARDS type diseases.