Incredible IF TRUE for coronavirus treatment:
1) Start chloroquine as early as possible.
2) Get blood transfusions.
Virus can absolutely wreck O2/CO2 transport/exchange in red blood cells. Once your red blood cells are wrecked, the medicine may not help. Must wait for new RBCs.
1) Start chloroquine as early as possible.
2) Get blood transfusions.
Virus can absolutely wreck O2/CO2 transport/exchange in red blood cells. Once your red blood cells are wrecked, the medicine may not help. Must wait for new RBCs.
Outcomes may vary wildly based on individual's RBC lifespan & recycle times.
This would mean if the majority of your RBCs were badly compromised, ventilators may not help. Lack of oxygen is not the real problem—it's lack of properly function red blood cells.
This would mean if the majority of your RBCs were badly compromised, ventilators may not help. Lack of oxygen is not the real problem—it's lack of properly function red blood cells.
This is why blood transfusions may be essential. It wouldn't need to be plasma from recovered COVID-19 donors—simply any donated blood with functioning red blood cells. It may buy the patient enough time to for their body to create new RBCs.
This suggests that ruined O2/CO2 capacity may be why some COVID-19 lung scans appear so bad—a symptom of non-functioning hemoglobin, not the cause, as it initially appeared to be.
Chloroquine appears to block the virus from being able to hijack the hemoglobin O2/CO2 transport mechanism. Unclear whether the medicine can reverse this damage—it is possible it only works to protect newer, undamaged RBCs.
This may explain why there have been variations in the apparent effectiveness of chloroquine treatments. If it comes late and RBCs are already wrecked, it may have very little effect. If the patient is lucky enough to have short RBC lifespans, it may really help them.
