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bookmark_borderLong-COVID’s Similarity to HIV

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Persistent viruses are not cleared but remain in specific cells of infected individuals. Persistent infections may involve stages of both silent and productive infection without rapidly killing the host. Diseases caused by persistent virus infections include acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), AIDS-related complexes, chronic hepatitis, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (chronic measles encephalitis), chronic papovavirus encephalitis (progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy), spongioform encephalopathies (caused by prions), several herpesvirus-induced diseases, and COVID-19. The mechanisms by which persistent infections are maintained involve both modulation of virus and cellular gene expression and modification of the host immune response.

COVID has been found to persist for months in individuals even if their case was mild. The virus continues to infect multiple organs including the brain. The U.S. National Institutes of Health said they found the pathogen is capable of replicating in human cells beyond the respiratory tract and can infect all organs.

There are many questions about Long-COVID (also known as Long Haulers Syndrome.)

Long-COVID is the condition most people develop after recovering from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Between 40 and 70% of recovered COVID cases report lingering symptoms, but it is quite likely 99.9% of recovered individuals have silent conditions. COVID-19 makes a multitude of changes to the human genome. Some of the changes result in noticeable symptoms, such as, brain fog, fatigue, soreness, night sweats, diarrhea, and loss of taste. There are also many changes to the genome that may go unnoticed, such as, an increase risk of cancer, rogue antibodies, and blood clotting.

The epigenetic changes that cause Long-COVID are very similar to having HIV.

The Journal Nature reports in the article HIV infection alters the human epigenetic landscape, “Early in 2010, a study on the DNA methylation status of B lymphoma confirmed that HIV infections may induce novel epigenetic changes, including DNA methylation status alteration of specific functional sites.”

“Immune dysregulation during HIV infection can increase anemia risk through red blood cell destruction (hemolysis) or ineffective red blood cell production,” according to BMC Infectious Diseases. This is similar to symptoms in some Long-COVID patients. Long-COVID is known to result in a variety of blood issues.

“HIV enters its genetic information into helper T cells to make copies of itself. When this happens, the helper T cells die. This severely disrupts the immune response. Low levels of helper T cells mean killer T cells and other white blood cells do not receive as much information about pathogens in the body,” as reported in Medical News Today. Long-COVID is also suspected of interfering with T cells and the immune system. Long-COVID causes an upregulation in IDO. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is an immune checkpoint molecule in the sense that it is an immunomodulatory enzyme produced by alternatively activated macrophages and other immunoregulatory cells. IDO is known to suppress T and NK cells, generate Tregs and myeloid-derived suppressor cells, and also supports angiogenesis.

In December 2021, typical seasonal viruses’ severity was up suggesting recovery from COVID results in a compromised immune system. T cells may lose effectiveness against any pathogen. It is estimated half of the U.S. population has had a COVID infection. Hospitals are seeing a sharp rise in Flu, RSV, and other viral infections. It is also likely infants and younger children are contracting the viruses due to their parents compromised immune systems.

The epigenetic changes caused by both Long-COVID and HIV compromise the immune system.

The study SARS-CoV-2 infection and persistence throughout the human body and brain examines COVID living in people for many months after their initial illness.

“This is remarkably important work,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the clinical epidemiology center at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri, who has led separate studies into the long-term effects of COVID-19. “For a long time now, we have been scratching our heads and asking why long COVID seems to affect so many organ systems. This paper sheds some light, and may help explain why long COVID can occur even in people who had mild or asymptomatic acute disease.”

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT Long-COVID
* Epigenetic Modifications (Changes to DNA)
* Change in Cell Fate
* Tryptophan Deficiency
* Dysfunctional Kynurenine Pathway
* Neurological Damage
* Down Regulating NAD+
* Up Regulating IDO
* Rogue Antibodies
* Change in Pancreas Cell Function (Down regulation of Insulin)
* Increased Risk of Cancer
* Blood Clotting — This unusual clotting may cause different complications, including organ damage, heart attack and stroke.

COVID in Your Genes
COVID: The Natural Immunity Myth

More COVID-19 Research

bookmark_borderOmicron and Other COVID Variants / the Long Term Pandemic

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COVID and Cats:
A scientist friend called me last night… wanted to make sure I stocked up on enough masks and supplies for the next round featuring Omicron. We got to talking about severity of variants and what the most likely scenarios are:
1) the virus stays for a prolonged period in an unvaccinated immune compromised individual
2) the virus jumps back into animals and mutates before jumping back into humans
His theory is cats are a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2. And, that cats are spreading COVID to mice and deer… and back into humans. Some studies have shown 20-50% of cats that belong to owners that have had COVID develop COVID. Studies have also found that cats can transmit the virus to other cats. The risk is especially great for pets that share a bed with their owner.

Some other things we discussed:
* the pandemic is going to go on for years
* there is no natural immunity to Omicron
* there may be no immunity from vaccines to Omicron
* the severity of Omicron will take some time to determine… since we don’t know how much immunity / less severe symptoms vaccines may offer, yet. There is some possibility that prior infection may offer some protection to severity, but that is unlikely.
* N95 masks and social distancing offer the best protection to all variants of COVID
* we do not fully understand the long term effects of COVID. Until we do, avoid contracting the virus… and probably after we do understand, it will become clear the reduction in life expectancy and quality of life

bookmark_borderOmicron: What We Know About the COVID-19 Variant

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We’re starting to find out more about Omicron:
1)”Previous infection used to protect against Delta but now with Omicron that doesn’t seem to be the case,” said Anne von Gottberg, microbiologist at South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases.”
2) risk of breakthrough vaccination is also much higher. Out of 600 fully vaccinated travelers from South Africa, 61 tested positive for COVID. 16 of those were Omicron.
3) a much higher percentage of 20-30 years are being hospitalized
4) an alarming percentage of children under 2 are being hospitalized.
5) the Omicron variant has become dominant in South Africa. Cases of COVID have gone from 200/day, to 400, to 1,000 to 2,000, to 4,000, to 8,000, to over 11,000/day in as many days.
Remember, when you hear of cases being “mild”, that means mild for COVID (eg not hospitalized). All of the cases I’ve studied have been symptomatic individuals that are fully vaccinated.

Omicron Update December 9, 2021
Omicron Update:
* Pfizer says the booster offers protection
* Pfizer says 4th dose may be required
* South Africa says Pfizer offers 1/40th the protection as Delta
* Reinfection is 3 times more likely than with Delta
* South Africa cases are up 255% in a week
* 4x’s more transmissible than Delta
* UK cases could exceed 1 million by the end of this month
* typical seasonal viruses’ severity is up… suggesting recovery from COVID results in a compromised immune system. T cells may lose effectiveness against any pathogen

“In other words, Omicron is spreading in highly immune populations as quickly as the original virus did in populations with no immunity at all. If this holds and is left uncontrolled, a big Omicron wave lies ahead—bigger than we would have expected with Delta. Cases were already surging ahead of winter. The U.S. already had a too-low vaccination rate. And now Omicron threatens to eat away at the immunity we thought we had.”

bookmark_borderLong-COVID Case Study: Vaccination Alleviation

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About 4 weeks after my second dose of Moderna, I noticed my NAD+ symptoms resolved (diarrhea, headaches, fatigue, soreness, temperature regulation, night sweats, etc.) Even after stopping the Niacin treatment, all of the NAD+ downregulation appears to be “back to normal”.

Finally being NAD+ symptom free, I was able to discover my IDO upregulation symptoms (tinnitus, feels like a cold in the ears, sinus pressure, vertigo, brain fog, etc.) Within 90 days of my second jab, all these symptoms improved dramatically. Now, the only time I feel any effects is going from low pressure to high pressure. The symptoms are very mild compared to last summer.

My conclusion is one of two things.:
1) after 23 moths, my damaged cells died. This is unlikely since the average life of a cell is nine years.
2) or more likely, the vaccine caused my immune system to clear the long-COVID damage.

Get vaccinated. Less likely to get COVID in the first place. Might fix your long-COVID if you have it.

For more information on NAD+ down regulation and IDO upregulation, please visit:
COVID-19: Chronic Conditions

bookmark_border25% of Critical Infrastructure at Risk of Flooding

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The First Street Foundation, a nonprofit research and technology group that assesses the threat posed by flooding across the country, released a report that found one-forth of critical infrastructure in the USA is at risk of flooding including: police and fire stations, hospitals, airports and wastewater treatment facilities.

“With an increasing number of flooding 1events making U.S. headlines, there is a greater awareness of the economic and human cost that
flood-damaged infrastructure can produce. For instance, Hurricane Sandy flooded hospitals, crippled electrical substations, overwhelmed waste water treatment centers, and shut down power and water to tens of millions of people (U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, 2012). More recently, the impact of Hurricane Ida stretched across the country crippling the electrical grid in southern Louisiana, flooding the transportation infrastructure in the NYC metro area, and killing nearly 100 people. It is clear, now more than ever, that the ways and places in which we live are likely to continue to be impacted by our changing environment. One of the most important implications in this development is the vulnerability of our national infrastructure.”

About 1/4 (2 million miles) of roads are already at risk of becoming impassable due to flooding.

“And as global warming melts ice sheets, raises sea levels and tilts the odds in favor of more extreme rainfall events, the risk will grow in many more communities, the First Street report found. Over the next 30 years, the number of residential properties at risk of flooding is expected to grow from 12.4 million today to 13.6 million by 2051, the report says. For critical infrastructure and commercial properties, the number of vulnerable facilities are projected to grow by 6% and 7% respectively over the next three decades,” said Drew Kann and Ella Nilsen.

Infrastructure Flood Risk
Infrastructure Flood Risk

More articles on Flood Insurance, Rising Sea Levels and Global Warming.

bookmark_borderBiodiversity: Humanity Faces Catastrophic Losses of Aquatic Species and Habitats

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by 570 Experts

More than 570 Experts from 97 Countries Urge United Nations to Strengthen Freshwater Biodiversity Protections

Humanity Faces Catastrophic Losses of Aquatic Species and Habitats
World leaders must prioritize urgent and targeted actions to protect and restore freshwater ecosystems and respect the rights of indigenous and marginalised communities disproportionately affected by these losses

It is often said that water is life. Our rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands are teeming with an amazing array of aquatic life. Covering less than 1% of the Earth’s surface, freshwater ecosystems are home to more than 10% of all species, and they are also vital to terrestrial and ocean life. However, we have managed freshwater systems primarily to provide for human needs, resulting in highly manipulated and degraded aquatic systems. We have dammed and diverted rivers, filled and converted wetlands, eroded shorelines, polluted water, over-harvested freshwater fish and waterfowl, and introduced invasive species.

bookmark_borderCOVID-19: Neurologic Complications

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Most COVID cases develop chronic neurological symptoms including confusion, brain fog, headaches, encephalitis, stroke, dementia, neuropathy, muscle and nerve damage.

Eight of 10 hospitalized COVID-19 patients developed neurologic complications and were six times more likely than their peers to die, according to early results from a global the study Global Incidence of Neurological Manifestations Among Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19 published in JAMA.

The most common symptoms were loss of smell (43%), weakness (40%), fatigue (38%), loss of taste (37%), muscle pain (25%), depression (23%), headache (21%), and anxiety (16%). The researchers also identified major but less common neurologic disorders such as ischemic stroke (1.9%), hemorrhagic stroke (0.4%), and seizures (0.06%).

Among the few nonhospitalized COVID-19 patients with mild illness in the dataset, neurologic and psychiatric symptoms were still common, with 55% reporting fatigue, 52% loss of smell, 47% muscle pain, 45% loss of taste, and 44% headache.

In a University College London news release, lead study author Jonathan Rogers, BChir, said his team had expected neurologic and psychiatric symptoms to be more common in severe COVID-19. “But instead we found that some symptoms appeared to be more common in mild cases,” he said. “It appears that COVID-19 affecting mental health and the brain is the norm, rather than the exception.”

“Months after a bout with COVID-19, many people are still struggling with memory problems, mental fog and mood changes. One reason is that the disease can cause long-term harm to the brain. The current catalog of COVID-related threats to the brain includes bleeding, blood clots, inflammation, oxygen deprivation and disruption of the protective blood-brain barrier. And there’s new evidence in monkeys that the virus may also directly infect and kill certain brain cells,” From blood clots to infected neurons, how COVID threatens the brain

“It’s very clear in our monkey model that neurons are infected,” says Morrison, who presented some of the research at the Society for Neuroscience meeting.

In a 2022 study, the University of Oxford found “Increased risk of some neurological and psychiatric disorders remains two years after COVID-19 infection” even if you have been vaccinated. (Neurological and psychiatric risk trajectories after SARS-CoV-2 infection: an analysis of 2-year retrospective cohort studies including 1,284,437 patients) “New diagnoses of disorders including psychosis, dementia, seizures and ‘brain fog’ remain commoner two years after COVID-19.”

“Some of the theories for what may be causing long-COVID symptoms include the persistence of the virus. So, instead of the virus coming and going, it sticks around causing inflammation, auto-immune problems and changes in the microbiome,” Dr. Michael Peluso, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco said.

“You can start thinking about getting COVID as almost an accelerant to aging. The viral infection accelerates the aging process in people,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center at Washington University in St. Louis and the chief of research and education service at Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.

Dr. Al-Aly researched data from millions of people across the country. The studies on kidney outcomes in long COVID, long COVID in the brain and long COVID in the heart had similar patterns.

Other Chronic Conditions of the Brain
In 2023 the Journal Cortex published the study, Persistent Prosopagnosia Following COVID-19

COVID-19 can cause psychological problems including loss of smell and taste, long-lasting memory, speech, and language impairments, and psychosis. Here, we provide the first report of prosopagnosia following symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Annie is a 28-year-old woman who had normal face recognition prior to contracting COVID-19 in March 2020. Two months later, she noticed face recognition difficulties while experiencing symptom relapses and her deficits with faces have persisted.

 

Long-term neurologic outcomes of COVID-19

COVID-19 Chronic Conditions

MORE ON COVID: COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 / Novel Coronavirus

bookmark_borderCOVID-19: Dysfunctional Kynurenine

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“Reprogramming of host metabolism supports viral pathogenesis by fueling viral proliferation, by providing, for example, free amino acids and fatty acids as building blocks,” as reported in COVID-19 infection alters kynurenine and fatty acid metabolism, correlating with IL-6 levels and renal status. “Targeted and untargeted metabolomics analyses identified altered tryptophan metabolism into the kynurenine pathway, which regulates inflammation and immunity.”

Dysfunctional states of the kynurenine pathway (such as kynurenine, kynurenic acid, quinolinic acid, anthranilic acid, 3-hydroxykynurenine) have been described for the following disorders:

* HIV dementia
* Tourette syndrome
* Tic disorders
* Psychiatric disorders (such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder,[6] major depression,[17] anxiety disorders)
* Multiple sclerosis
* Huntington’s disease
* Encephalopathies
* Lipid metabolism
* Liver fat metabolism
* Systemic lupus erythematosus
* Glutaric aciduria
* Vitamin B6 deficiency
* Eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome
* Myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome[18]

COVID-19 Chronic Conditions

MORE ON COVID: COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 / Novel Coronavirus

bookmark_borderCOVID-19 and Tryptophan Deficiency

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COVID depletes your NAD+. The body hijacks tryptophan trying to make NAD+. This is one cause of post-COVID anxiety.

There are other causes of post-COVID low tryptophan levels.

“Low serum and muscle tryptophan levels, as well as elevated kynurenine levels, may be to blame for COVID-19’s most common long-term symptoms, such as depression, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and muscle weakness—which are similar to the symptoms of tryptophan deficiency,” as reported in Altered tryptophan absorption and metabolism could underlie long-term symptoms in survivors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Tryptophan
Tryptophan

COVID-19 Chronic Conditions

MORE ON COVID: COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 / Novel Coronavirus

bookmark_borderCOVID-19: Chronic Conditions

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COVID=19

By Daniel Brouse
help@membrane.com

“I describe it as a bit like somebody throwing a hand grenade into our immune system, that all the populations [of immune cells] are completely topsy turvy and unsettled for years. And, that’s a guess, but we’ve got the technology to look at that in quite a lot of detail,” said Professor Danny Altmann, from the Department of Immunology and Inflammation at Imperial.

In September of 2023, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine reported, “Long-standing multiorgan impairment following SARS-CoV-2 infection has been a major concern for individuals recovering from severe disease and is thought to be caused by a multitude of factors, including direct viral cytotoxicity, chronic inflammation, ischaemic injury, acute reactivation of other viruses, metabolic derangements, and acute treatment effects (especially invasive ventilation). Numerous reports of delayed organ complications such as myocarditis, stroke, and pulmonary emboli have led to speculations that the multiorgan dysfunction caused by COVID-19 might be responsible for impaired recovery and ongoing symptoms in individuals, a condition referred to as long COVID.”

We know COVID causes long term health and wellness impacts, such as:
* Permanent Organ Damage
* Persistent SARS-CoV-2 RNA in multiple organs and throughout the brain
* Destruction of Good Gut Bacteria Resulting in a Compromised Immune System
* Epigenetic Modifications (Changes to DNA)
* Change in Cell Fate
* Tryptophan Deficiency
* Dysfunctional Kynurenine Pathway
* Neurological Damage
* New-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
* Exertional Intolerance, Oxygen Extraction, Reduced Exercise Capacity
* Down Regulating NAD+
* Up Regulating IDO
* Rogue Antibodies
* Insulin Reduction, Diabetes, High Cholesterol, Heart Disease and Stroke
* Increased Risk of Cancer
* Blood Clots
* Hypertension, Vascular Disorders, Myocarditis and Heart Disease
* Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)
* Dysregulation of the innate immune system, i.e. “cytokine storm”

It is important to note that the severity of disease in humans is not determined only by virus replication but also by the host immune response to the infection, which may lead to dysregulation of the innate immune system, i.e. “cytokine storm” (Omicron SARS-CoV-2 can infect faster and better)

These are some of the causes of long-COVID symptoms that have been identified. There are likely many more.

Everybody’s response to COVID is unique; however, most people are likely to develop several of these disorders. For instance, the genetic abnormalities were found in 1-3% of the prepandemic population. In the population of COVID survivors, 50-75% of individuals exhibit these genetic abnormalities. Currently, there is no cure for any of these ailments. Another example is the loss of taste and/or smell. In the study UGT2A1/UGT2A2 locus is associated with COVID-19-related loss of smell or taste people that are genetically predisposed to have problems with taste and smell genes are more likely to lose their senses to COVID. Of those people that lose their sense of taste or smell, 20% will not recover their senses.

COVID causes negative feedback loops. COVID appears to cause the most damage to the weakest or most vulnerable parts of the body. If you were predisposed to a condition prior to COVID, you will likely develop the condition after COVID. An example would be people with type II diabetes. If you have diabetes prior to COVID, then you are at high risk of dying from COVID. If you are prediabetic, COVID will likely make you diabetic. If you are not inclined to develop diabetes, COVID will likely increase the probability of developing diabetes. The same holds true with NAD+, IDO, P53 tumor suppression genes, and all the other conditions listed above.

Vaccination is the best method for preventing all of these conditions. Unvaccinated people are 8x’s more likely to contract COVID. Vaccinated people that contract COVID are 50% less likely to develop long-COVID. Get vaccinated; however, vaccination alone is not enough. One should also wear an N95 mask and socially distance.