Education: Prime Your Immune System

As an Internist, I have a deep interest in the scientific background of the pandemic. However, I have a deeper interest in what each of us as individuals can do to optimize our health, even in this setting.

1.       Stop habits which impair your immune system: smoking (all), illicit drug use, excess alcohol, excess carbohydrates (sugars and starches) in the diet.

2.       Drink plenty of water to keep mucus membranes moist.

3.       Exercise for 20 minutes at least 4 times per week.

4.       Get good quality sleep.

5.       Consider regular supplementation with vitamins A, C, D, and E.

Once my office is up and running, infection prevention will be at a premium. Part of the disinfection process will utilize ultraviolet-C lanterns for surface and air decontamination. The chances of you being infected by viruses left by previous patients is greatly reduced.

Please use the official sites to keep track of the latest recommendations.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html

Education: How COVID-19 Affects the Lungs

Good day,

I have some fascinating images for you to review today. This “fly through,” created by a specialized CT scan at George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC, shows some important characteristics about the COVID-19 virus. It was released by Dr. Keith Mortman. There is no sound, so please read the following explanation before viewing the video.

Watch video HERE.

What you see on the link is an image of the lungs of a real patient. The ribs are a peachy color. The white filmy shapes are the left and right lungs, inside the ribs. The blue branching structures are the airways. The yellow blobs show places where the virus has infected the lungs. Most pneumonias attack one specific segment or lobe of the lungs. Most often, the lung regains full function when the infection resolves.

In the case of COVID-19, you can see that the infection and lung involvement is diffuse, affecting both sides, upper and lower segments of the lung. The virus tends to destroy lung tissue. As a consequence, lung function is frequently permanently impaired.

Normal gas exchange does not occur in the airway (bronchioles) but in the spongy part of the lungs where the alveoli are located. That is where the virus and the body’s over-reaction (inflammation) occur. Hence, without proper gas exchange, the patient becomes short of breath, sometimes to the degree that they exhaust themselves. They need respirators to do the work of breathing and higher-than-normal concentrations of oxygen to feed the body properly. When the patient recovers, the infection and inflammation resolve. In the severely ill, lung tissue destruction can cause permanent breathing impairment.

As mentioned previously, with viruses, prevention is better than cure.

John Diggs MD