Category Archives: Science

“Scientists have never before seen another virus attack the brain in the same way COVID-19 does”

Deutsche Welle: Severe brain damage possible even with mild coronavirus symptoms. “According to British neurologists, COVID-19 can cause serious damage to the brain and central nervous system, causing psychosis, paralysis and strokes, which are often detected in their late stages.”

“There are numerous signs that the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 not only attacks the lungs and respiratory tract, but also other organs on a massive scale.It can severely affect the heart, vessels, nerves, kidneys, and skin.

British neurologists have now published shocking details in the journal “Brain,” which suggests SARS-CoV-2 can cause severe brain damage — even in patients with mild symptoms or those in recovery. Often this damage is detected very late or not at all.

Neurologists at the University College London (UCL) diagnosed acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis (ADEM) in more than 40 British COVID-19 patients. This inflammatory disease causes a degenerative destruction of the central nervous system, affecting the myelin sheaths of the nerves in the brain and spinal cord.”

Deutsche Welle: Schwere Hirnschäden selbst bei leichten Corona-Symptomen möglich. “Laut britischen Neurologen kann SARS-CoV-2 schwerwiegende Schäden am Hirn und am Zentralen Nervensystem auslösen, die Psychosen, Lähmungen und Schlaganfälle verursachen und oftmals nur spät erkannt werden.”

“Mittlerweile gibt es zahlreiche Hinweise, dass das neuartige Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 nicht nur die Lungen und Atemwege, sondern auch andere Organe massiv angreift und auch dem Herzen, den Gefäßen, den Nerven, den Nieren und der Haut schwer zusetzen kann.

Britische Neurologen haben jetzt schockierende Einzelheiten in der Zeitschrift “Brain” veröffentlicht, wonach SARS-CoV-2 selbst bei Patienten mit leichten Symptomen oder bei bereits Genesenen schwerwiegende Hirnschäden verursachen kann. Und oftmals werden diese Schädigungen nur sehr spät oder gar nicht erkannt.

Bei mehr als 40 britischen COVID-19-Patienten diagnostizierten die Neurologen am University College London (UCL) eine akute demyelinisierende Enzephalomyelitis (ADEM). Bei dieser entzündlichen Erkrankung kommt es zu einer degenerative Zerstörung des Zentralen Nervensystems, die die Myelinscheiden der Nerven im Gehirn und Rückenmark betrifft.”

Things I don’t understand

The Washington Post: Trump administration sends letter withdrawing U.S. from World Health Organization over coronavirus response.

“The Trump administration has sent a letter to the United Nations withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a dramatic move that could reshape public health diplomacy.
The notice of withdrawal was delivered to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the letter has not been made public. Under the terms of a joint resolution passed by Congress in 1948, the United States must give a year’s notice in writing and pay its debts to the agency in order to leave.
It is not clear whether the president can pull the United States out of the organization and withdraw funding without Congress. When Trump first threatened to withdraw, Democratic lawmakers argued that doing so would be illegal and vowed to push back.”

The Washington Post: A high-risk Florida teen who died from covid-19 attended a huge church party, then was given hydroxychloroquine by her parents, report says.

“A medical examiner’s report recently made public, however, has raised questions about Carsyn’s case. The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner found that the immunocompromised teen went to a large church party with roughly 100 other children where she did not wear a mask and social distancing was not enforced. Then, after getting sick, nearly a week passed before she was taken to the hospital, and during that time her parents gave her hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug touted by President Trump that the Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings about, saying usage could cause potentially deadly heart rhythm problems.
Carsyn’s case, which gained renewed interest on Sunday after it was publicized by Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones, drew fierce backlash from critics, including a number of medical professionals, who condemned the actions taken by the teen’s family in the weeks before her death.”

“Why were so many predators getting away with it? And what would it take to stop them?”

The New York Times: The Rape Kit’s Secret History. “This is the story of the woman who forced the police to start treating sexual assault like a crime.” By Pagan Kennedy.

“How could a tool as potentially powerful as the rape kit have come into existence in the first place? For nearly two decades, I’d been reporting on inventors, breakthroughs and the ways that new technologies can bring about social change. It seemed to me that the rape-kit system was an invention like no other. Can you think of any other technology designed to hold men accountable for brutalizing women?

As soon as I began to investigate the rape kit’s origins, however, I stumbled across a mystery. Most sources credited a Chicago police sergeant, Louis Vitullo, with developing the kit in the 1970s. But a few described the invention as a collaboration between Mr. Vitullo and an activist, Martha Goddard. Where was the truth? As so often happens in stories about rape, I found myself wondering whom to believe.

[…]

The rape-kit idea was presented to the public as a collaboration between the state attorney’s office and the police department, with men running both sides… and little credit given to the women who had pushed for reform. Ms. Goddard agreed to this […] because she saw that it was the only way to make the rape kit happen.”