Carbon Monoxide: Catalyst for Coronavirus?
Recently it was explained how the highly toxic carbon monoxide (CO) interferes with important biological functions in our body, including the immune system, even when it is inhaled in very low concentrations.
It now seems that carbon monoxide also plays an important role as a catalyst in the worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus, because that can explain observed phenomena that cannot be understood otherwise. The coronavirus emerged in the Chinese town of Wuhan during the winter season, when air pollution by CO, also indoors, is at its worst. It should also be noted that smoking is still very common in China, especially among men, which also stimulates a high ratio of chronic CO intoxication among the Chinese population. It is therefore remarkable, but no coincidence, that in neighboring Taiwan, which has strict environmental and anti-smoking policies, the coronavirus has a much milder course.
But all over the world, the typical victims of the coronavirus are senior people who suffer from chronic diseases that are linked to smoking and/or air pollution, like heart problems, COPD, high blood pressure and diabetes type 2. These, and others, are also diseases that are known to be caused or worsened by carbon monoxide.
Due to biological reasons, the immune system of women is less affected by CO than is the case with men. This explains why men are more prone to catch the coronavirus, and die from it, than women.
In Europe, Italy has been hit the hardest by the coronavirus. Reliable data show that of all infected Italians, 60% are men and 40% are women. At an interval score of almost 1.300 fatal cases, 75% were men and 25% were women. The fatality among infected men was 7,2%, where for women the fatality was 4,1%.
And in Italy, like in China, the air pollution in the big cities is severe, due to the millions of scooters that are very popular with commuters. However, these scooters usually have no catalytic converter in their exhausts, so they emit huge quantities of CO, NOx and fine dust. All these are bad for human health, but CO is most dangerous and acute. And in Italy, like in all of Europe and most of the US, it is winter and thus heating season!
So far the typical victim of the coronavirus is a person who already suffers from chronic diseases that are linked with smoking and/or air pollution, indoors and outdoors. Nevertheless, in all cases, it is worthwhile to check with a breath analysis if there is an underlying case of CO intoxication, because this explains and worsens most of the symptoms. And íf CO is involved, the patient may benefit more from a re-breathing mask than from treatment with oxygen because a re-breathing mask helps the body to get rid of the carbon monoxide.[1]
[1] Last week the American toxicologist and CO expert Albert Donnay posted tips and suggestions on the internet and on YouTube on how to use the re-breathing principle, even with very simple means.
René van Slooten is a leading ‘Poe researcher’, who theorizes that Poe’s final treatise, ‘Eureka’, a response to the philosophical and religious questions of his time, was a forerunner to Einstein’s theory of relativity. He was born in 1944 in The Netherlands. He studied chemical engineering and science history and worked in the food industry in Europe, Africa and Asia.The past years he works in the production of bio-fuels from organic waste materials, especially in developing countries. His interest in Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Eureka’ started in 1982, when he found an antiquarian edition and read the scientific and philosophical ideas that were unheard of in 1848. He became a member of the international ‘Edgar Allan Poe Studies Association’ and his first article about ‘Eureka’ appeared in 1986 in a major Dutch magazine. Since then he published numerous articles, essays and letters on Poe and ‘Eureka’ in Dutch magazines and newspapers, but also in the international magazines ‘Nature’, ‘NewScientist’ and TIME. He published the first Dutch ‘Eureka’ translation (2003) and presented two papers on ‘Eureka’ at the international Poe conferences in Baltimore (2002) and Philadelphia (2010). His main interest in ‘Eureka’ is its history and acceptance in Europe and its influence on philosophy and science during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In retrospect, this CO theory was a reasonable guess but it turned out to be just the opposite of what COVID researchers soon discovered.
Just a week later, on April 3 2020, CDC’s COVID-19 Response Team published a nationwide study in MMWR of over 7000 COVID-19 cases from hospitals in 50 states and DC.
It found smokers were under-represented among COVID-19 hospital patients–just 1.3% compared to 14% expected– while never smokers were over represented. That smokers (with high CO) are protected against COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death has been reported since in over 50 studies from around the world.
The same studies also show people with low COHb are at greatest risk. This suggests they may be protected from COVID infection by boosting– not lowering –their CO level.
But once infected, the risk of death shifts from those with too little CO when admitted to those with too much a week later. This excess CO (from the breakdown of heme proteins by heme oxygenase) can buildup in blood and tissues causing multiorgan hypoxia and death.