by phydeux » Mon Apr 20, 2020 7:19 am
If you've never been to the U.K. (London in particular), they have a very competitive newspaper environment and a lot of the papers will print really sensationalized stuff just to 'attract eyeballs'. I cant see the FAcebook article, but oxygen-rich environments are used in medical (burn units), but not so sure the doctor would be right that a ventilator could cause a lot of damage; if you're so bad off that you need a ventilator to breathe for you, any damage it causes is probably better than no ventilator, especially if it keeps you from dying.
Bats and coronavirus. Its possible it could have come from bats or another animal. HIV/AIDS supposedly originated in primates in Africa, possibly transferred to humans through a bite or accidental transfer of body fluids (blood, saliva/spit, eating monkey meat). I'd say no one will ever definately figure it out for HIV/AIDS or COVID-19, but since the first reports of a new disease caused by a coronavirus came from a doctor in Wuhan, and the first big big outbreak was in Wuhan, it probably originated in the area, and the possibility of it escaping from a research lab by accident is very likely.
Overall - note that bacteria and viruses can mutate quite quickly to adapt to their surroundings. Antibiotics (for bacteria) and vaccines (for viruses), were developed in the early-mid 20th century, so a lot of diseases were easily controlled back then. But the organisms have been able to evolve over the last 90 years, while the development of new antibiotics and vaccines has slowed, so we're reaching a tipping point where we might be seeing a 'new normal' of newly evolved strains of microbes that resists all known treatments and are able to infect and run rampant through a population while a new treatment (drug, antibiotic, or vaccine, or some other treatment methodology like oxygen-rich environments) is created. Just follow some basic sanitation protocols (wash your hands, cover coughs and sneezes, stay home when sick) and you should reduce your probability of catching anything. Fun times if you're a microbiology fan, not so much if you're a human wanting to go to a crowded event or on a hike in the hills.
3 of the 5 voices in my head are telling me to "Go for it!"