Coronavirus - worldwide spread and control

Meanwhile back on The Wirral nurses have been turned out of their accommodation and sent to hotels so the re-patriated Brits and their families can stay in isolation at Arrowe Park Hospital. There are two groups now, who are allowed to socialise in their own group, but not with the other group. People living by Arrowe Park Hospital (there's housing just across the road) aren't happy.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine is just across the water with isolation wards...

BTW, I ordered some anti-viral hand spray from a certain online Pharmacy with a name similar to Shoes. Arrived this morning, but it's now Out of Stock.

 

Could it not be that if they inhibit the protein production the virus can not multiply so much?

 

How?

 

A few days I read that one Pharmacy here in NZ was selling 1 face mask for $30! A couple of years ago I bought a box of 50 face masks for $16 dollars. I still have about 20 left.

 

My understanding from listening to infectious disease docs on tv is that masks are useless. Frequent hand washing and not touching your face is the best approach.

 

I have heard that too @Mij but I think I would still wear one.

 

I think with a mask (and goggles on) it prevents you from touching your face (unless you have to adjust them all the time)

 

Correct. Avoiding exposure from public areas is best as well. If you must get out, stay outdoors, or do groceries in least busy times and do not shake hands with anybody open doors with your shoulder or forearm (unless there is a knob).

I have never heard of an anti-viral spray. It sounds to me like it is an sale gimmick that people sell to folks that don’t know any better.

 

Protease inhibitors prevent viral replication by selectively binding to viral proteases and blocking proteolytic cleavage of protein precursors that are necessary for the production of infectious viral particles.

In this case they use two and high dosis.

I guess they seleced two that work for HIV as I understood there is an
analogue of HIV proteins in the new corona virus.

 

On occasion in the past I used to muck around with raw nicotine, which is 'moderately hazardous' if any gets on exposed skin, or if inhaled - so I have, amongst other safety gear, a full face respirator with a several sets/changes of A2P3 filters.

They will keep most stuff out, being much higher grade filters than a lightweight mask (which are usually little more than a dust filter with straps), and they don't have gaps around the edges.

Perfectly fine for working in environments with contaminated air, for a while, not sure they'd do much to protect against viruses tho - rigs for that sort of work, according to my understanding, have their own tanked air supply.

Viruses (virii?) tend to be quite small, relative to any filter.

 

They say on the info on the stuff it provides protection for:

Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (swine flu)
rotavirus
Staphylococcus Aureas
Pseudomonas aurugenosa
Enterococcus hirae
E. coli

Active ingredients:
Didecycldimonium chloride
Chlorhexidine digluconate

Other ingredients:
A lot of other stuff, including, as ever, Aqua! (don't have energy to put all detail of this stuff in now, but will provide if anyone wants it)

So I don't know if it will help with the novel coronavirus, but if it is helpful for H1N1 who knows.

It's harmful to aquatic life, avoid release into the environment.

I prob won't be using it myself (or not often) as I don't get out much. OH will be using it after going to the shops. Or maybe he'll be happy enough to start ordering online (been running a campaign to do that for years now!) so won't need to use it. Worth the money for the stuff if that campaign works!

There's no proof that this will work for this new virus, but anything is better than nothing when you're both aged and suffering from a chronic illness. I'd like to see my Grandkids growing up for a bit longer. I guess you might say I'm a soft touch for adverts then, but I don't actually think I am. I regard it as taking part in an unblinded and very random personal experiment - it wasn't expensive to do so.

 

I quite agree. I have a little bottle of hand sterilizer in my bag for when I for out. Nothing to do with coronavirus, just coughs and colds. No matter where I go, it seems someone is lurking specifically foe the purpose of having a coughing and spluttering fit as I go past.

Lots of people don't seem to bother with coughing or sneezing into tissues. When they do they don't always get a chance to wash their hands afterwards. Or they keep the scrunched tissue in their hand while they open a door.

I'm dreading a trip to the GP tomorrow. I'm bound to come out with more than I went in with! There's a touch screen, sign in device and no sanitizer near it.

Sorry....rant over (mutter, mutter....)

 

I and my family use that stuff every time we go out. My anecdotal experience was that it reduced the amount of colds we got.

 

The one I use is a hand foam you apply before going out. It’s meant to stay as a coating on your hands for a few hours (or until you wash them) and kill viruses and bacteria you get on your hands. That’s the claim anyway.

edited to add. I had a friend with a small microscope that was capable of seeing red blood cells. When I did a finger prick of my blood having the anti viral foam on my hands you could watch the cells being destroyed. Was quite interesting to see.

 

Hi @Trish, @Diluted-biscuit is right. Though I'd be using it after going out. If I ever went out of course! Needs re-applying after hand washing. So I guess my instructions to OH after he's been out to shops or wherever is "wash your hand well, dry them, and then apply the anti-virus foam thing".

I very much doubt that it's as efficacious (see below) as they say, but anything is better than nothing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x8D4T--0v4

 

Oooh, that sounds handy. Much better than the stuff I have to keep applying after contact. Touching the outside if the bottle, your handbag if you forgot to slip it in a pocket first...

 

I recall Ron Davis cautioning people with ME i.e. that antivirals may be risky for them ---. I really didn't understand the underlying science but from memory the point was that most antivirals had a similar mechanism (virus's had some generic vulnerability since the mostly replicated via this one common step - target for antivirals) --- so the drugs worked for a lot of virus's. Check out Ron's old talks --- might shed some light.

Slightly weird thing was, at the time Ron was speaking, about the risk of using antivirals, Jose Montoya (also at Stanford) was using antivirals to treat people with ME. Maybe those were the right antivirals!

 

The best practice that is recommended is to cough or sneeze into your elbow (upper sleeve). That is because tissues are thin and porous, and likely to contaminate your hands as droplets are projected in the air. Of course if this inadvertently happened, you should wash your hands and you hope that everybody does the same out there wherever you go and meet.

 

A bit off topic, but I thought people reading this thread might find it interesting... From Financial Times (I can't afford to subscribe, but they are often the first to break news, ahead of other news outlets, so I just subscribe to their News Alerts which are free.)