How to Safeguard Against The Wuhan Coronavirus
Unless you’re living under a rock, I am sure you’ve heard a lot about the Wuhan Coronavirus spreading. Currently, there are cases in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Australia, Cambodia, Canada, France, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand, The Republic of Korea, United States, and Vietnam. So far there has been 80 deaths with 2700 infected, 60 of them in the US.
According to the CDC, there is no treatment for this virus labeled 2019-nCoV, for novel-crononavirus. Coronaviruses lead to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
What is nCoV?
A coronavirus is viral infection that affects mammals and some birds. Like all viruses, 2019-nCoV, spreads from infected people to healthy people. Viruses are not exactly alive, not in the sense that they can reproduce like other living things. Viruses reproduce through what’s called lytic infection. This requires the virus to attach to a healthy cell, enter it with genetic material causing the host-cell to make copies of the virus, and causes the cell to burst, or lyse. This is what makes viruses so hard to fight too.
Viruses take a little piece of the host cell with them. 2019-nCoV is one that does this very well and is referred to as an enveloped virus. This envelope is part of the cell wall from the host cell – which your immune system sees as a part of you. It effectively camouflages itself as you! This causes your immune system to look past it, allowing it continue infecting more cells.
How to Safeguard Yourself
Let’s talk about how how to safeguard against the Wuhan coronavirus. Like all viruses, antibiotics do not work on the coronavirus. Currently, there is no vaccine for it either – Not that seasonal vaccines are very effective in viruses like these that tend to change quickly, making it hard for vaccine developers to keep up. So what natural options do you have?
Natural Solutions to Viral Infections:
Vitamin D: One thing we know about all viruses is that Vitamin D deficiency has a large impact on susceptibility to infections. Vitamin D has an effect on the envelop of the virus. Often called The Sunshine Vitamin, one reason why we see more infections in the winter is due to our lack of sun exposure.
The medical research on this is torn, to say the least. Most medical journals will say that Vitamin D will have little effect on viral infections. These studies are using a maintenance dose of 2,000 IUs or less.- Vitamin C: There is ample research on Vitamin C effect on inhibiting infections associated with SARS. This is one of the better researched substances in SARS infections, like 2019-nCoV.
- N-acetylcysteine: This powerful antioxidant has a tremendous effect on the lungs in general. NAC is also shown to help with acute respiratory disease like SARS. The research shows that it helps with congestion, elimination, and inflammation in the lung. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study, NAC was shown to improve outcomes with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) patients when compared to a control group.
- Turmeric: Yep, that orange-yellow spice that helps with inflammation and joint pain! There is evidence that turmeric can prevent the coronavirus from attaching to a host cell.
- Zinc: Zinc is well know to prevent viruses from adhering to healthy cells. Zinc should be dosed at or below 25 mg/day for women, and at or below 50 mg/day for men.
Vitamin D: One thing we know about all viruses is that Vitamin D deficiency has a large impact on susceptibility to infections. Vitamin D has an effect on the envelop of the virus. Often called The Sunshine Vitamin, one reason why we see more infections in the winter is due to our lack of sun exposure.Of course, you should consult with a trained health care provider to get the dose that’s right for you!
Coronavirus Hype
“The microbe is nothing. The terrain is everything.” Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)One this for sure, there is a lot of hype surrounding this infection. The key is to keep yourself healthy! We have a lot of faith in the Germ Theory, but even man behind that theory, Louis Pasteur, knew that healthy people do not simply get infected.
If you are experiencing respiratory symptoms, a fever, malaise… basically, if you’re feeling sick, get to a doctor’s office! Make sure you wash your hands, cover your mouth when sneezing with your arm (the Vampire sneeze!), and eat a healthy balanced diet. Keeping yourself healthy is the best way to prevent getting a viral infection. Adding good leafy green vegetables, a good pharmaceutical-grade multi-vitamin and probiotics, and some light exercise are a great plan to help you stay healthy through the coronavirus outbreak.
