The fact of the mysterious pneumonia has been widely spread in HK drives me to do a literature review on the suspected cause (i.e. coronavirus) of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). As a biomedical researcher, let me show you my concern and make the following suggestions.
The basic
mechanism of viral attack is that the viruses replicate themself using the
host’s (in this case is “our”) DNA genetic replication system. By doing this,
our body couldn’t function well due to the massive viral replication. Supposedly, the immune cells in our body will
fight off the infecting viruses quickly. However, the viruses
are so smart that they could be able to produce some chemical substances to
cause our immune cells to die. Besides, this coronavirus is a new kind of virus
which belongs to a mutated strain and our body cannot recognize it. No
antibiotics have been proved to be 100% effective in treating viral infection
so far. The only effective way to get rid of it is by ourselves. It is like a
prolonged battle between the viruses and our immune response. In fact, viruses
couldn’t kill all the immune cells in a health individual. The stronger the
immune function you have, the less the viral injury you get. Therefore, the
degree of sickness after infection and the rate of recovery mainly depends on
how strong your immune function is.
You cannot
avoid the infection unless you avoid from those infected individuals/area. But,
you can try your best to boost up your immune function by several regimes. Make
sure you are “extremely healthy” at least during this critical period. Stronger
immune function could keep the viral damage minimal even if you were so unlucky as
being infected. Also, stronger immune function delays the onset of any
detrimental effects from the viral infection. Scientists are now working on
tracking the treatment and so make sure you are still surviving until an
effective treatment occurs. The following suggestions aim to strengthen your
immune function within a short period of time.
(1) Antioxidant nutraceuticals: Antioxidants are chemicals found in foods which exert a great value in strengthening our immune system. Boost up your immune function by taking a cocktail of antioxidant supplements.
—Vitamin E 1000 IU per day. Alpha-tocopherol is the biological active form of vitamin E. There are two forms of it: d-tocopherol and dl-tocopherol. d- is the natural form and dl- is the synthetic form. Try to get the d- form because it is absorbed faster in our body.
— Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) 1000 milligram (mg) daily. Instead of taking supplement, you can take 2 pieces of citrus fruits (e.g. orange ) a day to get the vitamin C
— Beta-carotene, not more than 10000 IU daily.
— Selenium, 200 microgram daily.
— Zinc, not more than 500 milligram mg) daily.
— Lipoic acid, 50 mg daily.
— Glutathione, 50 mg daily.
Not any adverse effects have been reported from the above suggested supplementation dose.
— Let green tea to be your daily beverage because it contains tremendous amount of antioxidant flavonoid and catechins.
— Eat more tomatoes, broccoli or fruits and vegetables in red and dark green color. They carry a huge amount of antioxidant carotenoids, lycopene and carotene.
Parco M. Siu, MPhil, PhD Candidate