Month: June 2020

Civil Defense Perspectives – January 2020 (vol. 35 #1)  – posted June, 30, 2020

In January, there were many unknowns about the terrifying new demon that was raging in China, causing untold numbers of deaths. The official statistics were appalling enough, but there were rumors about crematoria working constantly, incinerating undiagnosed and uncounted corpses. Then horror stories started pouring in from Italy, which has a very large Chinese work force, especially in the fashion industry, with frequent travel to and from China. Ominous red dots on the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) website spread to engulf most of the world, especially the U.S. and Europe (tinyurl.com/uwns6z5).

In late June, when this is being written, unknowns remain. The disease offers an opportunity to learn a tremendous amount about viral diseases and their treatment—which may be squandered because of political opportunism and financial conflicts. Your editor has been sorting through a tsunami of information—see bit.ly/coronavirusarticles and jpands.org/jpands2502.htm.

Continue reading “COVID-19 Diagnosis”

Civi Defense Perspectives May 2020 (vol. 35 #3)  

A virus is not exactly alive itself. It is a bundle of chemicals so arranged that they attach to a living host’s cell membranes and are transported into the cell. The cell’s own metabolic machinery then begins to use the viral genetic blueprint to make more viruses. The raw materials, the chemical energy, the milieu that permits the synthesis of viral components to occur (such as pH and temperature) are all supplied by the host cell, bringing about its own destruction. The virus released into the environment can then repeat the cycle in other hosts, until there are no more receptive hosts because they are isolated, immune, or dead.

As viruses are replicated, many errors (mutations) occur, especially in RNA viruses, so that progeny may be more or less effective in causing infection.

All viral pandemics have come to an end, even those that have been far more devastating than the current COVID-19.

Continue reading “A Totalitarian Virus”