Are Viruses Cleverer Than Humans? (Part 1)
Viruses have existed for over a billion years - humans as we known them, for less than two million years. Does that make viruses smarter than people? Perhaps. They certainly have lasted longer.
Viruses surely have the upper hand against many humans, especially those who are fooled into believing they do not need vaccinations because their immune systems alone can fight off all viral invaders. In cases where people’s immune systems have experienced those viruses before or even their immediate ancestors have had those viral infections, they are often right. But when totally new viruses emerge and there is no historic human immunity, those overly confident people often end up literally dead wrong.
Like humans, viruses are quite varied. Just as humans come in all skin shades, sizes, sexes, and attitudes; viruses can be RNA, or DNA based. They can possess a protective outer skin-like envelope or be unenveloped – also called necked viruses. And there are about as many different families of viruses as there are tribes in Africa.
An ancient Greek adage states, “Pride precedes a fall.” That is, a person with great pride may be headed for a personal downfall. This happens all too often, not only to people but to nations.
Like the United States, South Africa often considers itself “exceptional” – special. In many ways, both countries are. But when it comes to viral warfare, despite the high level of technical and scientific achievement in both countries, cultural factors in each have led to vaccine resistance and a higher mortality rate than in many comparable nations. In March 2022, the United States approached a Covid death toll of one million, about .35% of its population. South African’s “excessive deaths” since the pandemic started are 270,000 or almost .50% of the population. Given the younger average age in South Africa, this suggests South Africa has done even worse than the USA, that itself has done worse than most comparable European nations. This is despite South Africa and the United States being leaders in scientific research and expertise on their respective continents. This is largely due to vaccine hesitancy in both countries. Indeed, pride does precede a fall - at least when they confronted emerging viral challenges like HIV in the past, and SARS-CoV-2 (SARS-2) today. While both leading nations have fallen short in some ways in this viral world war, what will happen when the next, possibly worse novel virus jumps the species barrier three, six, or nine years hence? Will these two “advanced” nations again score huge losses? Yes – unless attitudes change – and not just attitudes towards vaccines.
While proudly advanced countries think they have nothing to learn about viruses, more humble nations are glad to try scientifically based innovations against viral attacks. In others, corrupt governmental officials subverted the popular will of those who want common sense, scientifically based solutions. When I arrive in Zambia in 2002 with 20,000 bottles of selenium to help fight AIDS, less than 1% of people with HIV could afford anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). Selenium supplements had proved to slow HIV progression to AIDS and to strongly increase CD4 immune blood cell count. Almost immediately the HIV employee committees in every government ministry bought selenium and saw its clear benefits – all except the ministry of health.
All the media in Zambia – newspapers, radio, and TV, both public and private, wanted to know about selenium. When the corrupt Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health blocked selenium from getting to the people, even the government newspapers editorialized asking them to provided it. In five years, 500,000 Zambians died of AIDS. All died much sooner than they would have because they were denied the availability of selenium supplements.
In the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa the result was far different. After the Liberian Ministry of Health reviewed the scientific reports of how selenium had helped against other viral epidemics, they tested a moderatelyhigh dose of selenium supplements on hospitalized Ebola patients. This informal clinical trial quickly showed that adding 1.2mg of selenium to their WHO recommended standard of “supportive care” cut the mortality rate by almost half. The Liberian Ministry of Health immediately ordered one hundred 200mcg selenium nutritional tablets for every Ebola patient they had.
Selenium works as a broadspectrum antiviral that reduces the impact of and death from almost all deadly viral infections, at least of enveloped viruses, including SARS2. According to a 2020 article in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases (100,390-393), 100% of those who are seriously ill or die of Covid-19 are selenium deficient. Thus, the difference between life and death with Covid is the body’s level of selenium. Yet both the American and South African Ministries of Health and the media in both countries have totally ignored this critically important but not widely known science. This has been a deadly oversight. Why? Too many previous false alarms touting ill-conceived remedies? Is this the boy who cried wolf syndrome, or is it merely sci-phobia on the part of the media, fearing to ask questions about a scientific phenomenon that is just a bit more complex than the average reportorial assignment?
Howard Armistead is Director of the Selenium Education and Research Centre, Johannesburg, howard@sercsa.org.Visit winagainstcorona.com, winagaisnthiv.com, winagainstebola.com or sercsa.org
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The lungs are vital body organs, helping us breath. How can one keep them healthy and ensure these organs do not get ailments such as bronchitis, asthma, Covid-19, cancer, and other respiratory diseases?
Alex
Dear Alex
The lungs are part of the respiratory system, whose purpose is to help you breath.
All cells in the body need oxygen and produce carbon dioxide as a waste gas. When you breathe in, the lungs remove oxygen from the breathed-in air, and this oxygen passes into the blood stream and is supplied to each cell. The waste gas carbon dioxide is then released from the cells into the bloodstream, which carries it back to the lungs and is removed from the body when you breathe out. This process is essential for life, and therefore the health of the lungs is vital.It is impossible to completely prevent lung infections, inflammatory conditions like chronic bronchitis and asthma or cancer, but there are measures that can be taken to optimise lung health.
One is to engage in regular exercise so as to make the lungs more efficient, which also helps to delay the detrimental effects of aging on lung health and the effects of lung diseases. Another is to regularly perform deep breathing exercise. Also avoid exposure to pollutants and irritants like smoke (cigarettes, charcoal, wood, other fuel), mold, dust, synthetic air fresheners and harsh cleaning products. Make sure your living space is always well ventilated. In addition, you can prevent infections by maintaining good general health, eating lots of fruits and vegetables, staying well hydrated, practising hand hygiene, avoiding crowded places, getting vaccinated, and early treatment of illness.