West Nile Virus rampant in Canadian Prairies
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Friday, August 24, 2007
West Nile Virus rampant in Canadian Prairies
The number of cases of West Nile virus on the Prairies has exploded. And some experts are warning the worst is yet to come.The latest figures show at least 386 Canadians have been infected. In Manitoba, the number of cases has doubled to 213. That's almost twice as many as the figures for the entire country last year.Of the new cases in Manitoba, 18 were identified by Canadian Blood Services routine screening. The donated blood units were discarded as planned.Two West Nile virus-related deaths were reported in Manitoba earlier this month; West Nile was the likely cause of death in one of the cases and is suspected in the other.Many of the cases begin identified now were like contracted weeks ago. Peak exposure to west Nile is late July to mid-August and the infection can take up to three weeks to surface.
West Nile Virus rampant in Canadian Prairies
West Nile Virus rampant in Canadian Prairies
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Just saying “No” to mosquitoes is about the only advice that public health authorities have been giving for the past 5 summers when it comes to West Nile virus.
But their advice becomes useless the second you get bitten by a mosquito. And who can escape mosquitoes? What do you do now?
Just when you need them most, the public health authorities are silent.
My company developed (and owns a pending patent for) a safe and apparently quite effective treatment for WNV encephalitis, and has been using it in an ongoing free clinical trial for the past 5 summers.
Our initial results on 8 patients seen in Sept, 2003 were published in a peer-reviewed medical journal in July, 2004 (1). Publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal is all that's required for a treatment to officially exist.
Our approach lowers the host's response to the virus--the so-called "cytokine storm"--rather than targeting the virus itself. So it may work for most viruses as a kind of general viral antidote.
I was asked to describe our treatment to the White House Office of Science Technology and Policy (OSTP) in June, 2004. I volunteered to brief the Dept of Homeland Security later that summer. The UN is aware of our treatment in the context of avian influenza. It was included in the Project BioShield II Act of 2005, co-sponsored by Senators Lieberman, Hatch, and Brownback (2).
The FDA is happy for our trial to proceed, since we use already FDA-approved medications which are known to be safe for the general population.
I recently described our treatment on Friday, August 3rd, at the BARDA Industry Day hosted by the Dept of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC (3).
The only agency not supportive of our efforts is the CDC, for reasons known only to them.
21 patients with WNV have responded so far, out of 25 (84%). We've also treated 4 horses (3 responded) and 12 birds (6 responded; birds present sicker than humans and horses). Our WNV trial is free from our end. The blood pressure meds we use are inexpensive (around $1/day) and are available by prescription from any drugstore in the country.
Anybody who wants to download our trial documents can do so for free at any time of day or night from our homepage at www.genomed.com.
Beginning treatment early--within the first 48 hrs of encephalitis symptoms--seems to be the only way to avoid long-term sequelae such as paralysis, chronic fatigue, “brain fog,” etc. WNV is notorious for still affecting half of WNV victims 18 months later.
If a family knows about our treatment ahead of time, they'll be in a much better position to get it prescribed for their relative who comes down with the disease.
Thanks to the inexplicable behavior of public health authorities at every level, beginning with the CDC, who seem to have redefined public health in the same way that FEMA redefined rescue, neither physicians nor patients have heard about our treatment for the fifth year in a row.
References
1. Moskowitz DW, Johnson FE. The central role of angiotensin I-converting enzyme in vertebrate pathophysiology. Curr Top Med Chem. 2004;4(13):1433-54. PMID: 15379656 (For PDF file, click on paper #6 at: http://www.genomed.com/index.cfm?action=investor&drill=publications)
2. Section 2151 of the Project BioShield II Act of April 28, 2005 (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s109-975)
3. http://www.hhs.gov/disasters/press/newsroom/spotlight/2007bardaday.html
Sincerely,
Dave Moskowitz MD
Chairman, CEO & Chief Medical Officer
GenoMed, Inc.
"Our business is public health(TM)"
website: www.genomed.com
Ticker symbol: GMED.PK (on the OTC Pink Sheets)
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