Publisher’s Note: Thanks to independent researcher and fellow Vermonter Jacqueline Brook for contributing this OP/ED. Readers may also find of interest her May 2020 feature story here entitled “Scouring The Globe For Viral Fragments And Making Them Whole Again.”
Dear Dr. Levine, Governor Scott, NPR, and FDA:
WHENEVER you talk about PCR or molecular testing, as any good scientific paper does, you should include the caveat that a PCR or molecular test, which only detects genetic fragments, CANNOT detect active virus or active infection (1,2,3,4,5,6). A positive PCR test result does not mean that someone is infectious. “Cases” cannot be equated with illness. The PCR test’s inventor, scientist Kary Mullis, is publicly on record as being very clear about this.
How has the skyscraper of this pandemic narrative been built upon the quicksand of the PCR test?
Even the FDA has it wrong:
“A diagnostic test can show if you have an active coronavirus infection and should take steps to quarantine or isolate yourself from others. Currently there are two types of diagnostic tests which detect the virus – molecular tests, such as RT-PCR tests, that detect the virus’s genetic material, and antigen tests that detect specific proteins on the surface of the virus.” (7)
Note the use of the word “active” above—which is inaccurate, if it is taken to be indicative of illness or infectiousness.
I cannot find the PCR caveat on the Vermont Health Department page “Testing for Covid-19,” under “Types of Tests.” The sentence there is pretty open to interpretation: “The test identifies people who are currently infected with the COVID-19 virus.” We are not told that such people are indeed contagious, because a PCR test cannot indicate the presence of “contagion.” But, we are not told that either.
An example of a recent (August 2020) scientific paper relying on PCR analysis is entitled: “Clinical Course and Molecular Viral Shedding Among Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Patients With SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Community Treatment Center in the Republic of Korea.”
The researchers conducted 1886 RT-PCR tests over the course of the study. Yet here is the caveat line from the Discussion: “It is important to note that detection of viral RNA does not equate infectious virus being present and transmissible.” (8)
So, how exactly is this study even meaningful?
In the beginning, in hospitals, because the CDC messed up the production of the PCR test initially and because it took so long to get test results back, doctors were diagnosing Covid with CT scans—the maximum amount of radiation that a lung with impaired function can receive. However, CT scans can give false positive results one third of the time with regards to lung cancer diagnoses (9). So, despite the huge amount of radiation to the patient, they are not perfect either. Or perhaps the people who read the scans are not perfect. Or perhaps they are—dare I say—greedy.
And with regards to treatment, the NY Times reported that the overuse of antibiotics on “Covid” patients in the beginning of the pandemic was highly problematic:
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“During the peak surge, our antibiotic use was off the charts,” said Dr. Teena Chopra, the hospital’s director of epidemiology and antibiotic stewardship, who estimated that more than 80 percent of arriving patients were given antimicrobial drugs. “At one point, we were afraid we would run out.” …
Dr. Chopra of Detroit Medical Center estimated that up to a third of coronavirus patients who died at the hospital were killed by opportunistic pathogens like C. difficile, a pernicious infection that causes uncontrolled diarrhea and is increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
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“Up to a third.” Extrapolate that globally. It’s unlikely to have been an isolated response.
Indeed, PBS’s NOVA Program, “Decoding Covid-19” reported a similar story early on in the pandemic. At about 9:30 into the program, Liu Qi, a young man from Wuhan, China, tells the inteviewer:
“As soon as I started taking the [prescribed] medication, my symptoms got worse. I lost my appetite, I couldn’t keep anything down, and I had terrible diarrhea.”
Unfortunately, the NOVA reporters, while showing an image of a bubble pack of green and white capsules and an outer package with Chinese characters on it at 9:34 in the video, thought it unimportant to identify the drug that made the young man’s symptoms explode. Had they done so, they might’ve saved lives.
Also, at Montefiore Hospital in NY, it has been reported that, “of more than 5,800 COVID-19 patients hospitalized from March through May, 71% received at least one antibiotic dose.” (11)
One reason for the high use of antibiotics in hospitals is because hospital-acquired infection is such a prevalent phenomenon.
However, “Antibiotics can interfere with the immune system, indirectly through the disturbance of the body’s microbiota (Ubeda and Pamer, 2012), or directly by modulating the functions of immune cells.” (12) There are all kinds of unexpected and negative ways in which antibiotics can impact the immune system.
Additionally, viruses are said to be able to, in many instances, provoke unexpected drug side effects (13).
NSAID drugs have been found to inhibit antibody production (14).
On top of the myriad things that may be going on during this pandemic (15)—the numerous things that may never be found out because detailed medical histories were not taken and/or thorough physical exams were not done, and because fear mongering has replaced thoughtful reporting—there is the amazing power of the nocebo effect (the opposite of the placebo effect, 16). How many people are becoming sick solely because there is such a concerted effort being made to make us all believe that infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus is everywhere?
This pandemic has been managed to produce maximum fear and stress—with so many people out of work, isolated, depressed, angry, worried about becoming homeless, trying to figure out how to reinvent themselves, etc.
This is a good time to pick up a copy of Bruce Lipton’s “The Biology of Belief.” According to Lipton, fear shuts down the human immune system. And I think everyone knows that stress is a huge contributor to illness.
Sincerely,
Jacqueline Brook
REFERENCES:
1. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2765837
Interpreting Diagnostic Tests for SARS-CoV-2
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2. https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/Documents/HAN/2020-PAHAN-501-05-01-UPD-Return%20to%20W.pdf
“Note that detecting viral RNA via PCR does not necessarily mean that infectious virus is present.” [Bottom of page 2.]
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3. https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/covid-wwksf/what-we-know-communicable-period-mar-27-2020.pdf?
“It should be noted that RNA detection by RT-PCR does not necessarily indicate the presence of live virus.” [End of first paragraph, page 4.]
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4. https://secure.newcastlelaboratories.com/test-directory/test/respiratory-viral-pcr/
“The detection of viral DNA or RNA does not necessarily equate with ongoing viral replication and infectious virus.”
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5. https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1472-765X.2001.01018.x
“Even concentrations of viral RNA sufficiently high to be revealed after the first phase of amplification (i.e. RT‐PCR) are not proof of the presence of infectious virus.” [2nd paragraph of discussion.]
“Only the capacity to grow on cell cultures provides the necessary evidence that viruses are competent to perform many of the cyto‐infective processes required to cause human infection.” [3rd paragraph of discussion.]
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6. https://covid19.nj.gov/faqs/coronavirus-information/about-novel-coronavirus-2019/when-is-someone-infectious
“However, detection of viral RNA does not necessarily mean that infectious virus is present.” [Middle of 2nd paragraph.]
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7. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/coronavirus-testing-basics
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8. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2769235
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9. https://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/news/20090601/lung-ct-scans-produce-false-alarms#1
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10. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/health/coronavirus-antibiotics-drugs.html?
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11. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-08-covid-patients-useless-antibiotics.html
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12. https://elifesciences.org/articles/55692
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13. https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00002018-199716010-00001
Role of Viral Infections in the Induction of Adverse Drug Reactions, Micha Levy, 2012
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14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2693360/
Ibuprofen and other widely used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs inhibit antibody production in human cells, Bancos et al, 2009
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15. https://www.12newsnow.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/texass-record-high-covid-positivity-rate-falls-after-data-experts-investigate/287-ffc19167-0d47-4be9-8c06-8648229288ef
Texas officials say record-high COVID-19 positivity rate was caused by coding errors, system upgrades, Teresa Woodard, 8/14/20
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16. https://www.aerzteblatt.de/pdf.asp?id=127210
Nocebo Phenomenon in Medicine, Häuser et al, 2012
