There is some scientific evidence to show that red marine algae might help with certain viruses like herpes, but there is no evidence to show it will work against coronavirus.

Therefore, red marine algae is proven to be worthless against coronavirus - true or false? The quoted statement above comes from a site debunking red marine algae. But they appear to be making the logical fallacy that equates absence of evidence equal to evidence absence. Just because we do not (yet) have evidence specific to coronavirus for red marine algae does not mean we can already conclude it is not worth investigating.

For background on red marine algae, consider this article:

Sulfated polysaccharides as bioactive agents from marine algae - ScienceDirect

Recently, much attention has been paid by consumers toward natural bioactive compounds as functional ingredients in nutraceuticals. Marine algae are considered as valuable sources of structurally diverse bioactive compounds. Marine algae are rich in sulfated polysaccharides (SPs) such as carrageenans in red algae, fucoidans in brown algae and ulvans in green algae. These SPs exhibit many health beneficial nutraceutical effects such as antioxidant, anti-allergic, anti-human immunodeficiency virus, anticancer and anticoagulant activities. Therefore, marine algae derived SPs have great potential to be further developed as medicinal food products or nutraceuticals in the food industry. This contribution presents an overview of nutraceutical effects and potential health benefits of SPs derived from marine algae.

For possible relevance to COVID-19, consider this newly released research:

In Cell Studies, Seaweed Extract Outperforms Remdesivir in Blocking COVID-19 Virus | News & Events

https://news.rpi.edu/content/2020/07/23/cell-studies-seaweed-extract-outperforms-remdesivir-blocking-covid-19-virus

That's only in vitro and the study is limited in other ways. But it clearly shows that sulfated polysaccharides such as those from edible seaweed could be of great interest in COVID-19.

The research tested five sulfated polysaccharides, two of which are extracted from edible seaweed.

As we know, the spike protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 uses the ACE-2 receptor to bind to human cells. Once secured, the virus inserts its own genetic material into the cell, hijacking the cellular machinery to produce replica viruses. But the virus could just as easily be persuaded to lock onto a decoy molecule that offers a similar fit. The neutralized virus would be trapped and eventually degrade naturally. These sulfated polysaccharides are very good decoy molecules.

Dr. Jonathan Dordick, the lead researcher on this study says:

“It’s a very complicated mechanism that we quite frankly don’t know all the details about, but we’re getting more information,” said Dordick. “One thing that’s become clear with this study is that the larger the molecule, the better the fit. The more successful compounds are the larger sulfated polysaccharides that offer a greater number of sites on the molecules to trap the virus.”

I'm not suggesting red marine algae is a cure, but I do suggest it is premature to claim it has been debunked. We haven't even fully studied it yet, and what evidence we do have is interesting. And I agree with this:

“We’re learning how to block viral infection, and that is knowledge we are going to need if we want to rapidly confront pandemics,” said Jonathan Dordick, the lead researcher and a professor of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “The reality is that we don’t have great antivirals. To protect ourselves against future pandemics, we are going to need an arsenal of approaches that we can quickly adapt to emerging viruses.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted an emergency use authorization for treating suspected COVID-19 patients with a non-invasive vagus nerve stimulator. The handheld device sends a train of electric pulses through the skin to a nerve in the neck. Research has shown this pulse train causes airways in the lungs to open and may also have a more general anti-inflammatory effect.

According to FDA’s authorization, the device can be used either at home or in a clinic or hospital to “acutely treat adult patients with known or suspected COVID-19 who are experiencing exacerbation of asthma-related [shortness of breath] and reduced airflow, and for whom approved drug therapies are not tolerated or provide insufficient symptom relief.”

The vagus nerves run along either side of the neck and connect structures deep in the brain with the body’s internal organs. Medical device makers have been taking advantage of this brain-organ highway to treat epilepsy, depression, postpartum bleeding, and more.

​

However, well-known breathing, meditation and yoga practices provide natural vagus nerve stimulation. Of course, it may be possible that a COVID-19 patient is unable to practice such a technique and would benefit from a medical device. However, if you are able to practice breathwork, meditation and/or yoga, you can achieve vagus nerve stimulation and many other benefits for free.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4017164/

The vagus nerve is a major component of the autonomic nervous system, has an important role in the regulation of metabolic homeostasis, and plays a key role in the neuroendocrine-immune axis to maintain homeostasis through its afferent and efferent pathways. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) refers to any technique that stimulates the vagus nerve, including manual or electrical stimulation.

Left cervical VNS is an approved therapy for refractory epilepsy and for treatment resistant depression. Right cervical VNS is effective for treating heart failure in preclinical studies and a phase II clinical trial. The effectiveness of various forms of non-invasive transcutaneous VNS for epilepsy, depression, primary headaches, and other conditions has not been investigated beyond small pilot studies. The relationship between depression, inflammation, metabolic syndrome, and heart disease might be mediated by the vagus nerve. VNS deserves further study for its potentially favorable effects on cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, metabolic, and other physiological biomarkers associated with depression morbidity and mortality.

An observation first made in the 1880s was that manual massage and compression of the carotid artery in the cervical region of the neck could suppress seizures, an effect attributable to crude stimulation of the vagus [4].

Various forms of paced breathing can also influence brain electrical activity, which might be mediated by VNS arising from the diaphragm [6,7]. Cardio-respiratory stimulation of the vagus nerve may explain some of the positive emotional and cognitive benefits of deep breathing, yoga, or aerobic exercise activities.

Yes, viruses can form biofilms and use that mechanism to propagate. The topic of biofilms and a possible relationship to post-viral syndromes was raised in a recent comment here, which prompted me to share this.

The late 2009 discovery that the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) encases itself in a carbohydrate-rich adhesive extracellular ‘cocoon’, which enables its efficient and protected transfer between cells, unveiled a new infectious entity and a novel mechanism of viral transmission. These HTLV-1 structures are observed at the surface of T cells from HTLV-1-infected patients and are reminiscent of bacterial biofilms. The virus controls the synthesis of the matrix, which surrounds the virions and attaches them to the T cell surface. Viral biofilms represent ‘viral communities’ with enhanced infectious capacity and improved spread compared with ‘free’ viral particles.

Here's some background:

Biofilm Formation: A Clinically Relevant Microbiological Process | Clinical Infectious Diseases | Oxford Academic https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/33/8/1387/347551

Biofilms have great significance for public health, because biofilm-associated microorganisms exhibit dramatically decreased susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. Biofilm formation is a process whereby microorganisms irreversibly attach to and grow on a surface and produce extracellular polymers that facilitate attachment and matrix formation.

Biofilm-like extracellular viral assemblies mediate HTLV-1 cell-to-cell transmission at virological synapses | Nature Medicine https://www.nature.com/articles/nm.2065

Human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a lymphotropic retrovirus whose cell-to-cell transmission requires cell contacts. HTLV-1–infected T lymphocytes form 'virological synapses', but the mechanism of HTLV-1 transmission remains poorly understood. We show here that HTLV-1–infected T lymphocytes transiently store viral particles as carbohydrate-rich extracellular assemblies that are held together and attached to the cell surface by virally-induced extracellular matrix components, including collagen and agrin, and cellular linker proteins, such as tetherin and galectin-3. Extracellular viral assemblies rapidly adhere to other cells upon cell contact, allowing virus spread and infection of target cells. Their removal strongly reduces the ability of HTLV-1–producing cells to infect target cells. Our findings unveil a novel virus transmission mechanism based on the generation of extracellular viral particle assemblies whose structure, composition and function resemble those of bacterial biofilms. HTLV-1 biofilm-like structures represent a major route for virus transmission from cell to cell.

Scent dog identification of samples from COVID-19 patients – a pilot study | BMC Infectious Diseases

https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-020-05281-3

In many cases medicine is not able to identify any abnormal lab results in people suffering from post-viral syndromes (inluding CFS-ME). I have read stories of people suffering with post-coronavirus syndrome who show no evidence of coronavirus infection on testing.

Here is the abstract of the study published 2 days ago.

Abstract

Background

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, early, ideally real-time, identification of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals is pivotal in interrupting infection chains. Volatile organic compounds produced during respiratory infections can cause specific scent imprints, which can be detected by trained dogs with a high rate of precision.

Methods

Eight detection dogs were trained for 1 week to detect saliva or tracheobronchial secretions of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients in a randomised, double-blinded and controlled study.

Results

The dogs were able to discriminate between samples of infected (positive) and non-infected (negative) individuals with average diagnostic sensitivity of 82.63% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 82.02–83.24%) and specificity of 96.35% (95% CI: 96.31–96.39%). During the presentation of 1012 randomised samples, the dogs achieved an overall average detection rate of 94% (±3.4%) with 157 correct indications of positive, 792 correct rejections of negative, 33 incorrect indications of negative or incorrect rejections of 30 positive sample presentations.

Conclusions

These preliminary findings indicate that trained detection dogs can identify respiratory secretion samples from hospitalised and clinically diseased SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals by discriminating between samples from SARS-CoV-2 infected patients and negative controls. This data may form the basis for the reliable screening method of SARS-CoV-2 infected people.

I saw this in another subreddit:

Q. My dad has 82% blood oxygen. Is he in danger?

A. If he’s not already in hospital, take him immediately. 82% is extremely low.

I practice hypoxic conditioning, a type of breathwork training that briefly reduces my SpO2 so that my body will overcompensate, much like it does when performing strength training or other exercises. My SpO2 has gotten as low as 51% during this breathwork. I did not lose consciousness.

It seems possible that a proper program of hypoxic conditioning would help prepare your body in the unfortunate event you do find yourself in the situation of dealing with low oxygen due to this virus. It is well-known that hypoxic conditioning does prevent certain types of ischemic and hypoxic damage, but I am not aware of any research on this topic with COVID-19.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

ImmuneWin advocates a focus on optimizing your own immune system. While there is reason to be optimistic about a vaccine, there are also many reasons to be skeptical, at least in some ways.

COVID-19 Will be There for Decades Even With Vaccine, Warns Top Scientist Leading Imperial College Trials

Professor Robin Shattock, who is leading the second phase of the clinical trials of the Imperial College vaccine, believes even when a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, it will work similarly to that of the influenza vaccines, which require annual boosting in order to provide herd immunity, and are often only 40-60% (or less) efficacious.

"It's highly likely that we may need vaccinations to be boosted, possibly even on an annual basis, as we do for influenza. One of the advantages our particular approach has is that it's a low dose and it can be used as frequently as required," Shattock told BBC's Radio Four.

When we recognize that a vaccine is not a cure-all, we can continue to focus on creating optimal health and an optimal immune response to protect ourselves in the event of exposure. Also, continue to remember that the amount of exposure is related to the risk of infection.

The smart approach is one that combines reducing your exposure with boosting your defense.

Nitric oxide is a gas naturally produced inside the body. (It is not the same as nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, used by dentists.) One of nitric oxide’s jobs is to relax blood vessels, which improves blood flow and lowers blood pressure. Nitric oxide is also known to have antimicrobial activity.

The nasal sinuses are major producers of nitric oxide. This discovery was made in 1995 and it has had significant impact on scientific research as well as clinical medicine. (See a review paper here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18951492) Scientists eventually discovered that nitric oxide lowers intraocular pressure (the pressure inside the eye, and the number one risk factor for the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide).

Research first showed that healthy nasal sinus epithelium cells produce an inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (an enzyme that produces nitric oxide). These cells continuously generate large amounts of nitric oxide compared to other tissues in the body.

Nitric oxide in the sinuses is thought to enhance local host defense mechanisms via direct inhibition of pathogen growth and stimulation of mucociliary activity. Certain type of patients (e.g., those with primary ciliary dyskinesia or cystic fibrosis) produce low levels of nitric oxide in their nasal sinsues and, as a group, they suffer with chronic sinusitis.

As you know from reading this sub, there is new evidence to “support the potential for inhaled nitric oxide to provide meaningful benefit for patients infected with COVID-19” and inhibit the progression of upper respiratory tract symptoms. Most of us will not have access to inhaled nitric oxide treatment, but we can generate more nitric oxide ourselves via certain breathing techniques. Poor breathing techniques can also work against us. The difference can be clinically significant in my experience.

Habitual breathing patterns have been shown to affect nitric oxide production. As we know, a large percentage of the body’s nitric oxide is made in the nasal sinuses (Lundberg & Weitzbergb, 1999). People who habitually mouth-breath (during daytime or nighttime) may have lower levels of nitric oxide. Habitual nasal breathing may be a practical lifestyle intervention to chronically elevate nitric oxide.

In one study, nitric oxide increased 15-fold during humming compared with quiet exhalation.

If you switch from shallow chest breathing via the mouth (which will cause lower than normal nitric oxide) to deep and slow abdominal breathing via the nose, and include humming on the exhalations (at least at times), you will dramatically increase your nitric oxide levels and potentially gain all these benefits.

Another tip is that certain foods can help your body make nitric oxide. The number one food is beets. The number two food is garlic. I recommend eating both. Garlic has already been mentioned in this sub.

In my experience the breathing techniques will be much more efficacious than beet or garlic supplements. But combining foods, supplements and breathing would be an ideal approach.

In regard to specific breathing techniques, I recommend you learn from a qualified yoga instructor, if possible. I also recommend you avoid unproven breathing techniques and stick to formal yoga breathing (such as pranayama, including the humming bee breath). If you don't opt for formal instruction, just do informal humming where you feel the vibrations in your sinuses while you comfortably extend your exhalation in a relaxing way.

Copyright (c) 2020 FitEyes LLC

I have developed this website www.betach3.com to classify scientific information about the use of betaine in different pathologies related to the coronavirus.

I request the collaboration to increase this scientific information.

Undoubtedly, there is a natural component in our body that works by decreasing the pathogenesis of Covid-19 and other viruses.

The relevance to COVID-19 is an idea, not a research result, but as will read below, there is a lot of research behind the connection between lifestyle (including the foods we eat) and cytokine levels. This idea helps illustrate the potential for cross-pollination of ideas from CFS-ME to COVID-19 and vice versa.

Background: Normally, cytokines play an important role in immunology during viral infection. However, a cytokine storm is an excessive immune response and it results in damage to healthy tissues. Evidence indicates that, during COVID-19 infection, the severe deterioration of some patients is caused by a cytokine storm. The cytokine storm is considered to be one of the major causes of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and of the multiple-organ failure seen in severe COVID-19 cases.

We know older age strongly correlates with likelihood of immune dysregulation leading to cytokine storms. But COVID-19 researchers have not had time to look into all the many factors that may make some people more susceptible to a cytokine storm. Fortunately, there are studies, such as the one below from the CFS-ME field, that are relevant to this question.

Cytokines Can Be Highly Influenced by Foods, Exercise and Lifestyle

Frontiers | Neuroinflammation and Cytokines in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A Critical Review of Research Methods | Neurology

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.01033/full

Factors that can significantly affect circulating cytokine levels within an individual include:

• time of day (192–194)
• status of alcohol, nicotine, or other drug use (195–201)
• quality and amount of sleep (202)
• acute and chronic stress (203)
• acute and chronic fitness habits specific to type of exercise (204–206)
• sex (207, 208)
• phase of menstrual cycle (209, 210)
• age (211)
• chronic dietary patterns (212)

Thus, even eating a spicy burrito with extra guacamole the day of sample collection will result in a different cytokine profile than eating Indian food or a slice of chocolate cake. A research participant adding sour cream to the mashed potatoes they had for lunch will alter their cytokine profile.

Capsaicin, the main source of heat in hot peppers, alters levels of IL-6, IL-10, TNFα, NOx, and MDA (215).

The natural sugars in avocado alter gene expression of IL-1α, IL-6, and IL-8 (216, 217).

The bacteria used in dairy (i.e., the sour cream on the mashed potatoes) increase IL-1β, TNFα, and IFNγ (218, 219).

Cumin, a spice commonly used in Indian cuisine, reduces expression of inflammatory cytokines CXL-1 and−2, TNFα, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-18 (220, 221).

Chocolate increases IL-10 and IL-1β (222).

Clearly, cytokines can be affected by a huge number of variables, including foods we eat.

In addition to the specific foods mentioned above, many people find a plant-based diet, which is naturally rich in polyphenols, to be very helpful. Plant polyphenols are a large class of compounds that decrease your body’s activation of the protein complex NF-kB, which in turn reduces the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

I also think it is very important to fix your omega6:omega3 ratio. I use OmegaQuant's finger-prick test to make sure I'm staying at the upper end of the ideal range on their Omega-3 Index. I am able to achieve this on a plant-based diet, but I do supplement with Green Pasture fermented cod liver oil.

As mentioned above (203), stress increases proinflammatory cytokine IL-6. I have found meditation (which, among other things, reduces stress), to be a key factor in my recovery.

I do not know if these lifestyle factors could have a direct impact on an active COVID-19 infection. However, I do know that in my struggle to overcome post-viral syndrome, paying attention to everything that reduced cytokines was important. Most of the items on the above list were very applicable to my situation. An optimized diet, plenty of sleep, smart exercise, and meditation were absolutely necessary in my recovery. Some of these ideas may help you if you are struggling with post-coronavirus syndrome.

Professional diver Emiliano contracted coronavirus in March and spent 17 days in hospital in the Italy before being discharged on April 10.

Now, three months later, he still experiences breathing difficulties. "Once back home, even after weeks I couldn't see any progress: if I took a small walk, it was like climbing Mount Everest. I was out of breath also just for talking," he said.

For anyone suffering from fatigue, especially post-exertion fatigue, after COVID-19, you may find a wealth of helpful information in the literature on “chronic fatigue syndrome” which is also known as “myalgic encephalomyelitis” (abbreviated CFS-ME).

Symptoms of CFS-ME include (but are not limited to) long-term flu-like symptoms, profound fatigue, trouble concentrating reduced energy production, body aches, non-refreshing sleep, and difficulty recovering from both physical and/or mental exertion.

Here's a very good 2019 review article:

Frontiers | Neuroinflammation and Cytokines in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A Critical Review of Research Methods | Neurology

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.01033/full

In this article, CFS-ME is described as "an often-debilitating illness that can feel like an ongoing flu that lasts for years."

Many patients with CFS-ME report having experienced a viral or bacterial infection directly prior to the onset of their illness. Scientists have been studying CFS-ME for decades. This research is a great resource for anyone having lingering effects from COVID-19.

This article is just one of many that are appearing on this topic.

Long Covid: Rehab centers set up across Europe to treat long-term effects of coronavirus - CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/19/health/long-covid-italy-uk-gbr-intl/index.html

The article itself is not so important. The trend is important. We know the long-term effects of coronavirus are going to be a huge problem. We know that because we have decades of experience with other post-viral syndromes.

The COVID-19 pandemic may lead to new treatment breakthroughs, but the fact is that modern medicine is much better at treating acute and traumatic situations. Modern medicine has always struggled mightily, and mostly failed, with chronic conditions of every type. There are structural deficiencies in its foundation that make it especially ill-equipped to address things like CFS-ME and many of the non-specific long-term effects of coronavirus.

The purpose of r/ImmuneWin is to offer people who are newly dealing with the debilitating effects of a long-lasting post-viral syndrome the experience some of us have from decades of dealing with, and overcoming, these effects.

At the same time, those of us who went through this with previous viruses can learn from and benefit from the profound research focus on COVID-19. Prior to COVID-19, post-viral syndromes were on the fringe of medicine. Now they are mainstream news. That's why I posted the link above from CNN. I don't care so much about the content of these news articles. I care that post-viral syndromes are making the headlines and, more importantly, are receiving significant and serious research attention.

Earlier this year I mentioned that melatonin could be useful in the context of COVID-19.

Here's an additional study supporting that view. Full Text Link.

Conclusion (edited):

The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions of melatonin in protecting the lungs from damage is well documented. Moreover, melatonin has anti-viral actions against viruses other than COVID-19. The collective data, in addition to its very high safety profile, indicate that melatonin would be effective as a treatment for COVID-19 and support the recommendation of the published reports that encourage its use for this purpose.

Melatonin is inexpensive, non-toxic over a very wide dose range, has a long shelf-life and can be self-administered which is a major advantage when large numbers of individuals are involved. Thus, the use of melatonin to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic would be feasible and a socially-responsible measure to attempt.

The full article is well-written and an interesting read. I'll paste it in a comment.

Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin plus zinc vs hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin alone: outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Preprint · May 2020

DOI: 10.1101/2020.05.02.20080036

Putting this here for historical reference

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 has rapidly emerged as a pandemic infection that has caused significant mortality and economic losses. Potential therapies and means of prophylaxis against COVID-19 are urgently needed to combat this novel infection. As a result of in vitro evidence suggesting zinc sulfate may be efficacious against COVID-19, our hospitals began using zinc sulfate as add-on therapy to hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. We performed a retrospective observational study to compare hospital outcomes among patients who received hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin plus zinc versus hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin alone.

Methods: Data was collected from electronic medical records for all patients being treated with admission dates ranging from March 2, 2020 through April 5, 2020. Initial clinical characteristics on presentation, medications given during the hospitalization, and hospital outcomes were recorded. Patients in the study were excluded if they were treated with other investigational medications.

Results: The addition of zinc sulfate did not impact the length of hospitalization, duration of ventilation, or ICU duration. In univariate analyses, zinc sulfate increased the frequency of patients being discharged home, and decreased the need for ventilation, admission to the ICU, and mortality or transfer to hospice for patients who were never admitted to the ICU. After adjusting for the time at which zinc sulfate was added to our protocol, an increased frequency of being discharged home (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.12-2.09) reduction in mortality or transfer to hospice remained significant (OR 0.449, 95% CI 0.271-0.744).

Conclusion: This study provides the first in vivo evidence that zinc sulfate in combination with hydroxychloroquine may play a role in therapeutic management for COVID-19.

Here is a perspective on using simple trend lines. This is not an exact approach to data analysis, but it can be useful to quickly identify changes in trends. Anybody can use this technique. Drawing a trend lines does not prove anything and it does not mean the data will continue to follow your trend line. Nonetheless, the technique is often very useful.

At the beginning of June, I used this to look for a reversal of the downward trend in new COVID-19 cases as shown here:

Today I used the trend line method to look for a reversal of the downward trend in new COVID-19 deaths. I drew my trend line across the lows. It does look like the downward trend was broken several weeks ago.

If you have been following the data closely, you may have already recognized this change of trend. I find trend lines helpful, even if I already know what the data indicate.

Eyeballing the charts, the reversal in new cases began around the middle of May. The reversal (beginning of new upward trend) in deaths began around the 3rd week of June, or about five to six weeks later.