Coronavirus Update, Sunday, March 15.
I worked for 20 years with ECONET, a global natural products R&D organization. Looking for medicinal plants through remote areas of China or Siberia required a recovery period upon my return. This was not because of unsanitary or unhealthy conditions. It was just that my immune system was challenged by exposure to new molecules. New molecules were entering my body through my nose, mouth, eyes and skin. How many? An immunologist colleague estimated the number to be in the tens of millions. So while I was tromping through a jungle or tundra, a massive sorting process was taking place; a coordinated effort by my liver, bone marrow, blood stream, lymph glands and spleen, to analyze and catalog these exposures. Potential foes were segregated and an antibody was created to mark it for destruction or removal through my GI tract. Each of these expeditions produced millions of antibodies, added to my library that I am told probably contains 10 billion by now.
I mention this for two reasons. To give you a sense of how miraculous and complex we are. Every year, we learn more about the human immune system, and every new discovery opens another layer of complexity. I also want to dispel the idea that COVID-19 is a “Chinese virus.” It is simply…different. And each one of us, if we are exposed, will experience the amazing process of self-defense. A vaccine will eventually be developed to help with the antibody production, but right now, there are plenty of things to do that will stack the odds in your favor.
Natalie and I will discuss these, and answer your questions in a FaceBook LIVE tomorrow at 3PM Pacific. See you there.
Hello, my dear friend, Stephen, 2:30pm March 19, 2020
Hello from Colorado….How are you? Been a while huh? Well, I guess I was in my mid-to-late ’50s when I met you….and recently I hit the big 70…..what? That’s the age of my parents, or my grandparents. No-way, I could be that old…that’s a lot of ‘revolutions of the earth around the sun’, isn’t it? Well, another rude awakening, as I was hearing the COvid-19 alerts from CDC, or AARP or the local Denver TV stations: They all were bombarding the airways with alerts/warnings for those individuals that were 70 or older….My brain first processed that as, “Ah, those poor older people….’ had better be careful as they are at a higher risk than I am”. Then it hit me…”Whoa, that’s me”!! ( A 35 year old male in a 70-year-old body).
I appreciated your analogy regarding the millions of different molecules that can invade our body based on numerous environmental circumstances and it certainly rang true, Stephen. I look forward to the FB broadcast, albeit, not sure of how that can be done on FB but will certainly tune in to listen and find out.
Your Friend in Colorado
Parks