Health & Fitness

Consuming a diet high in fiber was linked with a reduced incidence of breast cancer in an analysis of all relevant prospective studies.

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Consuming a diet high in fiber was linked with a reduced incidence of breast cancer in an analysis of all relevant prospective studies.

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Unprovoked recurrent seizures are a serious problem affecting most patients who suffer from glioma, a primary brain tumor composed of malignant glial cells. Researchers tested the hypothesis that glioma-induces processes that renders a type of brain cells dysfunctional, perpetuating the imbalance between excitation and inhibition in tumor-associated epilepsy.

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Using a modified natural substance along with current approaches could improve colon cancer treatment, according to findings by biologists. The discovery comes from their research into the role of an amino acid in tumor development and a potential method for reversing the process. The disease is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States.

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For everything there is a season, and that includes viruses. Whether it's the common cold or flu viruses, in the U.S. the season begins in fall. By December, the viral spread is in full swing until it peaks in February. However, it’s different in the southern hemisphere where Africa, Australia and Brazil are approaching winter as the U.S. and most of Europe are sliding into spring and summer.

For an understanding of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) currently spreading across the world, it helps to have some background on the virus that triggers flu. Interestingly influenza viruses¹ and COVID-19² have similar characteristics, including a heat-sensitive lipid layer.

The name "influenza" originates from the initial Italian name, which was "influenza di freddo" or "influence of the cold."³ Yet, while the colder months have higher rates of infection, you can still get a cold or flu infection throughout the year.

Other respiratory viruses circulate during the flu season and may trigger similar symptoms. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one that causes severe illness in young children and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is "a leading cause of death from respiratory illness in those aged 65 years and older."⁴

Although flu is common and well-studied, it continues to be deadly. While estimates vary from year to year, the CDC estimated that for the 2018-2019 season there were 35.5 million sick with flu, 490,000 hospitalized with it and 34,200 who died because of it.⁵ But, the reality is these are only estimates since⁶ "flu deaths in children are reported to CDC; flu deaths in adults are not nationally notifiable."

Rising Flu Infections Compound COVID-19

In order to improve the accuracy of tracking illness and death, researchers look at the rate of death from pneumonia and influenza as most fatalities from influenza involve pneumonia.⁷ In the 2018-2019 flu season, the CDC found the percentage of death attributed to pneumonia and influenza was at or above epidemic thresholds for 10 weeks.⁸

The rates in the 2017-2018 season were recorded over epidemic numbers for 16 weeks and exceeded 10% for four weeks.⁹ While these are concerning, it’s important to know they are based on those who have symptoms or see their physician. Like COVID-19, there are many who carry influenza without symptoms but can infect those around them.

Harvard Health Publishing¹⁰ reports that from 20% to 30% may have the virus without symptoms, but data from a community-based study in England¹¹ suggests “most influenza infections are asymptomatic.” This is similar to what researchers are finding out about COVID-19.

Nearly 80% of people with the novel coronavirus are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms that don’t present the need for a physician appointment.¹² Of the remaining 20%, the World Health Organization¹³ finds that 13.8% develop severe disease, which they define as significant respiratory distress with blood saturation levels less than or equal to 93%.

Unlike the death percentage from flu that may reach as much as 10% on peak weeks, numbers for COVID-19 indicate the worldwide “shelter in place” has kept the global percentage hovering from 4% to 5%. Of course, this is a global average as there are countries with higher and lower percentages. You can track the changing numbers on the Johns Hopkins map.¹⁴

Remember, the reported numbers of people who have been tested for COVID-19 are used in the map and not the total number who may or may not have symptoms. While just one death is too many, social distancing, frequent hand-washing and an understanding of how the virus spreads may keep the death rate lower than that from pneumonia and influenza.

The strain on medical resources commonly experienced during flu season is currently compounded by COVID-19, which also causes respiratory problems. These are important facts to remember as you read the headlines and emerging news reports.

COVID-19 May Recede in Summer Months

Just as flu has a season based on environmental temperatures, scientists are anticipating the same for COVID-19.¹⁵ Researchers studied the infectivity from January 21 to January 23, before the Chinese government put measures in place January 24 to stop the spread of the virus.¹⁶ This gave the scientists data on its natural, unhindered viral spread.

They found in the early stage of the outbreak, areas with low temperatures and lower humidity had higher numbers infected than those with warmer and more humid climates. Data from 14 countries with more than 20 cases from February 8 to February 29 revealed that its severity was dependent on temperature and humidity. The higher both measurements, the lower the severity during that time.¹⁷

Whether warm weather will help to flatten the curve and thus reduce the strain on medical resources remains a question.

Typically, this type of virus does exhibit seasonality, yet, as the BBC reports, pandemics may not follow seasonal patterns. Jan Albert, professor of infectious disease control at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, addressed the question of whether there would be a seasonal flow:¹⁸

“Eventually we would expect to see Covid-19 becoming endemic. And it would be really surprising if it didn't show seasonality then. The big question is whether the sensitivity of this virus to [the seasons] will influence its capacity to spread in a pandemic situation. We don’t know for sure, but it should be in the back of our heads that it is possible.”

Endemic infections are those that have been moving through the human population for years. Many of the coronaviruses have been endemic and therefore have responded to seasonal changes,¹⁹ giving researchers hope that COVID-19 will respond similarly as the spring and summer months arrive.

Experts across the world have tried to estimate the spread of the disease and believe it hovers between 2.0 and 2.5, which means for every infected person there will be two to 2.5 who become infected.²⁰

One reason researchers expect a summer drop in transmissibility is humidity. Virologist Thomas Pietschmann from the Center for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research in Hanover, Germany, explains:²¹

"What's special about this virus is that humans are confronted with it for the first time. From the data we have from China, we can conclude that the virus has only once passed from an animal to humans and spread from there.

Viruses have greater stability at low temperatures. This is similar to food that keeps longest in the refrigerator. On cold and usually dry winter days, the small droplets, together with the viruses, float in the air longer than when the air humidity is high."

Viruses Affect Gender Differently

Data have also shown that women have a higher rate of COVID-19 survival than men;²² this is similar to the flu.²³ While it appears men and women have been infected at the same rate, the percentage who have died is greater for men. The New York Times reports the Chinese CDC published an analysis showing COVID-19 deaths in men numbered 2.8%, but in women it was 1.7%.

Researchers found the same thing with the SARS and MERS virus outbreaks. Some experts believe the differences may lie in the ability to mount a better immune response against infections.

Seasonal Fluctuations May Be Related to Vitamin D

While many believe getting the flu shot will reduce your risk, the effectiveness is usually less than 50%.²⁴ Instead, you may have a better chance of reducing severity and infectivity by paying attention to your vitamin D levels. Many believe the rise and fall of infections are based on three factors, two of which involve your immune system:²⁵

• Spending more time indoors during the winter months with the windows sealed means you’re more likely to be infected breathing the same air as someone who is carrying a virus.
• The days are shorter, and the lack of sunshine affects your vitamin D and melatonin levels, which in turn impacts your immune system.
• The virus survives better in cold dry climates.

As far back as 1981 researchers were proposing there was a seasonal reason behind influenza epidemics. In a review of published literature,²⁶ researchers noted that the robust seasonal vitamin D production, normally an option during the summer months, leaves people deficient in the winter.

This deficiency predisposes children to respiratory infections. They also found adults injected with live influenza virus were more likely to develop symptoms when their vitamin D level was low. They concluded that the seasonal stimulus proposed in 1981 was a function of vitamin D deficiency.

Some scientists have suggested that vitamin D induces another molecule, cathelicidin, to activate genes involved in the immune system.²⁷ GrassrootsHealth reports that several randomized controlled trials have demonstrated the effectiveness vitamin D has in reducing the risk of contracting the flu, regardless of the mechanism.²⁸

To fully support your body's ability to fight infections, you're aiming for a level between 60 and 80 ng/mL, with 40 ng/mL being the lowest cutoff for sufficiency. Although research may suggest how much it would take for the average person to achieve 40 ng/mL, your individual requirement may vary.

To know if you need a supplement or not, you'll need to get your levels tested. Regular exposure to sunlight is the ideal way to optimize your vitamin D levels, but this may not be possible during the winter months if you live in the northern hemisphere.

GrassrootsHealth makes testing easy by offering an inexpensive vitamin D testing kit as part of its consumer-sponsored research. By signing up, you are helping further vital health research that can help millions in coming years. All revenues from these kits go directly to GrassrootsHealth. I make no profit from these kits and only provide them as a service of convenience to my readers.

Support Your Immune System and Reduce Infections

There are several strategies you can use to support your immune system and reduce the number and severity of infections. Your immune system is your first line of defense against infection and to support health.

In addition to optimizing vitamin D and the suggestions listed below, you’ll also want to wash your hands frequently to reduce the spread of viruses and bacteria that trigger infections. For information on effectiveness and technique see “The Impact of Effective Handwashing Against Infection.”

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Many who are working from home or otherwise isolated during the coronavirus pandemic are looking for some positive news. Well, there is some good news when it comes to controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus now termed COVID-19.

It may be that UV (ultraviolet) light will help dampen this pandemic. UV light is currently used in medical settings,¹ wastewater treatment plants² and food processing.³ Now, as COVID-19 grows, there is increased demand from hospitals and medical facilities for conventional UV lights and variations on such lamps.⁴ According to Crunchbase News:⁵

"[S]tartups that disinfect items with UV light are … seeing a boost in sales since the outbreak — and are hustling to keep up with demand as a result. PhoneSoap, a company that makes devices to clean phones and other items with UV light, has seen 1,000 percent growth year over year in the past week …

In about mid-January, PhoneSoap executives began to notice an uptick in interest from overseas on both their website and Amazon. But the surge in sales really came after United States government officials and the Centers for Disease Control started speaking out more about the outbreak and threat to the U.S."

Other startups besides PhoneSoap are also seeing a surge in orders for disinfecting UV products, says Crunchbase:⁶

"CleanSlate UV, which is based in Toronto and has roughly $2 million in funding, makes devices that sanitize items with UV light. In hospitals, staff usually use CleanSlate UV for items like stethoscopes, badges and phones, and visitors often use it for their phones."

While both PhoneSoap and CleanSlate UV acknowledge that the effectiveness of UV light on COVID-19 has yet to be proven, Taylor Mann, CEO of CleanSlate UV, says:⁷

"What we can say is UV light has been proven to be effective against previous strains of coronavirus … We just don't know how effective it is against this specific strain."

CleanSlate UV is currently serving more than 80 hospitals in the U.S. and Canada and hospitals in Australia, Hong Kong and Europe.⁸

Science Backs the Effectiveness of UV Light

The use of UV light for disinfection and decontamination of pathogens is not new. Over a hundred years ago in 1903, Niels Ryberg Finsen won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for opening "a new avenue for medical science" through his discovery of the effect of concentrated light radiation in the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris.⁹

UV light is a major tool in the fight against airborne-mediated microbial diseases. According to research published in Scientific Reports in 2018:¹⁰

"Airborne-mediated microbial diseases represent one of the major challenges to worldwide public health. Common examples are influenza, appearing in seasonal and pandemic forms, and bacterially-based airborne- mediated diseases such as tuberculosis, increasingly emerging in multi- drug resistant form.

A direct approach to prevent the transmission of airborne-mediated disease is inactivation of the corresponding airborne pathogens, and in fact the airborne antimicrobial efficacy of ultraviolet (UV) light has long been established.

Germicidal UV light can also efficiently inactivate both drug-sensitive and multi-drug-resistant bacteria, as well as differing strains of viruses."

Hospitals decontaminate rooms that housed patients with dangerous and contagious infections such as C. difficile with UV light, according to The New York Times.¹¹ During the Ebola outbreak in 2014, the University of Nebraska Medical Center successfully relied on UV light disinfection, reports the Times.¹²

The center allows large UV lamps to "shine for three to five minutes," explained John Lowe, the medical center's assistant vice chancellor for health security training and education, to the Times. "It disinfects anywhere it can shine."¹³

At the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, Dr. Richard Ellison, the hospital epidemiologist, concurs about the effectiveness of UV light. "The research supports this type of cleaning," he says.¹⁴

UV Light Has Worked With Similar Coronaviruses

SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) is an animal-related respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus that surfaced in Asia in 2003. Though it was largely contained by 2004,¹⁵ a similar disease, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), surfaced in 2012, originating in Saudi Arabia.¹⁶ COVID-19 shows "significant overlap" with both SARS and MERS, says Science Daily.¹⁷

The good news is that UV light has shown positive effects against MERS in scientific studies. According to research published in the journal Transfusion, two different UV light devices reduced MERS infectivity in platelets and plasma, as well as infectivity from the Ebola virus.¹⁸ Ebola is a rare, sometimes fatal illness first reported in Africa.¹⁹

A study published in Transfusion Medicine to determine if UV light could reduce MERS-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) transmission by human platelet concentrates also found effectiveness combined with Amotosalen,²⁰ a light-activated DNA and RNA crosslinking agent:²¹

"Complete inactivation of MERS-CoV in spiked platelet units was achieved by treatment with Amotosalen/UVA light with a mean log reduction of 4·48±0·3. Passaging of the inactivated samples in Vero E6 showed no viral replication even after nine days of incubation and three passages. Viral genomic …

Amotosalen and UVA light treatment of MERS-CoV-spiked platelet concentrates efficiently and completely inactivated MERS-CoV infectivity (>4 logs), suggesting that such treatment could minimize the risk of transfusion-related MERS-CoV transmission."

Novel Uses of UV Light Disinfection Are Seen

Hospitals are well aware of the benefits of UV light in cleaning rooms and equipment but manual cleaning may not be as thorough as necessary. That is why the use of UV-disinfection robots is being explored. According to Interesting Engineering:²²

"Maintaining a clean and safe healthcare environment is a top priority, and while significant progress has been made in sanitization methods, major improvements must still be made. According to the CDC even with modern sanitization protocols, on any given day, about one in 25 hospital patients will acquire at least one healthcare-associated infection.

Current manual cleaning methods are nearly helpless in combating against bacteria, but the battle is not lost. Infection prevention technologies are giving rise to a new era of ultra-clean hospital's and emergency care facilities with the implementation of highly-efficient UV-disinfection robots …

The robots are fast and efficient, able to eliminate far more bacteria than humanly possible. Their ability to move around enables them to attack shadowed areas where many harmful organisms tend to manifest in places that are often missed by sanitization teams."

Since COVID-19 can spread in venues other than medical settings, airlines are also exploring UV light disinfection. Boeing is developing a self-cleaning lavatory that is disinfected after every use with UV light, effectively killing 99.99% of pathogens on all surfaces in three seconds. The lavatory is also hands-free. According to Travel and Lesiure:²³

"'The UV light destroys all known microbes by literally making them explode,' Boeing Research & Technology engineer Jamie Childress said in a statement. While Boeing says this particular type of light isn't harmful to humans, the cleaning system is designed only to turn on when the bathroom door is closed and unoccupied."

More Advantages of UV Disinfection

One reason pathogens are so difficult to kill is that they mutate and develop resistance, which renders antiviral medications and antibiotics developed especially for them useless. Not so with UV light disinfection, says a UV device maker. According to Clean Technica, referring to the Scientific Reports study published in 2018:^24,25

"Another advantage of … [the] UVC study is that it's both effective against bacteria which have evolved resistance to common drugs and it's very unlikely that diseases and viruses could evolve to be resistant to it due to effective limitations on their scale."

The goal of virus eradication is to stop the viruses from replicating. Digital Trends reported:²⁶

"Viruses don't reproduce on their own, but they do have genetic material, either DNA or RNA. They reproduce by attaching to cells and injecting their DNA …

UV light can cause [viruses'] thymine bases to fuse together, scrambling the DNA sequence and essentially throwing a wrench into the machinery. Since the DNA sequence is no longer correct, it can no longer replicate properly. This is how UV light annihilates viruses, by destroying their ability to reproduce."

UV light may be an improvement over current disinfectants, especially those used outside. Worldwide reports say the most commonly used outdoor disinfectant against COVID-19 is a diluted solution of sodium hypochlorite known as household bleach. But there are drawbacks. Says Science magazine:²⁷

"[I]t's unclear whether bleach destroys coronaviruses outside, and if it does kill them on surfaces it's unclear whether it would kill viruses in the air. Bleach itself breaks down under ultraviolet (UV) light. Then again, [Juan] Leon [an environmental health scientist at Emory University] says UV light seems to destroy coronaviruses as well …

There may even be downsides to widespread overzealous disinfection with bleach, notes Julia Silva Sobolik, a graduate student in Leon's lab. 'Bleach is highly irritating to mucous membranes,' Sobolik says. That means people exposed to sprayed disinfectants — especially the workers who spray them — are at risk of respiratory troubles, among other ailments.

Sobolik notes that an October 2019 study in JAMA Network Open found that nurses who regularly used disinfectants to clean surfaces were at higher risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.²⁸ A 2017 study linked exposure to disinfectants to asthma to adults in Germany.²⁹"

UV Light Can Help Personal Protective Equipment

Shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for front line medical staff are widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to The New York Times, protective facemasks for health care workers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center are now being decontaminated with UV light for reuse.³⁰

"'We are making the best of bad choices,' said Dr. Mark Rupp, the medical center's chief of infectious diseases. He feels confident that the masks will still protect health care workers. 'The data is very clear that you can kill and inactivate viruses with UV germicidal irradiation,' he said. 'It is also very clear that you will not damage the respirators.'"

Other hospitals are also treating protective face masks with UV light, says the Times.³¹ Years ago when I was in college I got some sense of the power of UV light first hand. I developed the nail infection called onychomycosis characterized by yellow nail discoloration.

These infections are common but notoriously hard to treat even with powerful and sometimes risky oral antifungal drugs. In my case, my intensive running and lack of understanding of optimal diet probably contributed to the condition.

Medication treatments were unsuccessful, but, to my delight, my infection disappeared after frequent, daily doses of sunshine on my toes. Looking back, it makes perfect sense that sunlight would remove the infection since UV light is a very potent germicide.

For industrial uses, mere exposure to sunlight won't do the trick — lamps emitting UV are required. They "could really be beneficial in disrupting disease transmission," says Shawn Gibbs, who has studied UV disinfection at the Indiana University School of Public Health in Bloomington.³² Let's hope UV light can be used to fight COVID-19.

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