You can cut your risk of death from swine flu H1N1 with cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.
Overall, 2.1 percent of patients taking statins died, compared to 3.2 percent of patients not taking statins. That means patients taking statins were just under 50 percent less likely to die.
But how quickly do the statins exercise protective effects? Few people will start taking statins before they get the flu in order to cut an already pretty low risk of dying from H1N1.
Update: Someone points out that the real reduction in the risk of dying is 35%. But the 50% figure would be (almost) correct if one used the lower rate as the reference point. The people not taking statins are 47.6% more likely to die.
Another commenter recommends vitamin D. Vitamin D does reduce respiratory infections in children and other lines of evidence point toward an anti-influenza effect from vitamin D. Knowing all this I decided some weeks ago to become more consistent about taking 2000 IU of vitamin D daily.
By Randall Parker at 2009 October 29 11:37 PM Pandemic Prepare DrugsOne good question, did taking statin drugs have any influence on whether one caught flu or not? It is generally accepted that high cholesterol has a protective effect against infectious diseases, though I don't know if that includes viral diseases.
"A few other studies also have suggested that statins may help flu patients by lowering inflammation."
There are other ways to lower inflammation that cost less and have fewer side effects than statins. But statin research gets the funding because pharma has patents on them, not fish oil.
Looks like a fairly worthless data point. They selected from hospitalized patients and looked at who were taking statins and who weren't. Any sort of difference between the two populations (like income, or willingness to go in and see a doctor before you get really sick) could have caused the effect. They did try to control for patients being on ventilators who couldn't take statins, etc. But it's hopeless.
Statins rise Vitamin D levels. Higher Vit. D levels protect from infections.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/vitamin-d-studies-of-interest.shtml
How do statins work? They dramatically raise vitamin D levels
Several studies have shown that statins raise 25(OH)D levels but last month this study showed that Crestor nearly tripled Vitamin D levels, from 14 to 36 ng/mL, in just 8 weeks. I loved what the author concluded, "We have no idea of the mechanism involved." Nor do I, as statins should lower, not increase, vitamin D levels because statins reduce Vitamin D's precursor, cholesterol. As Dr. Yavuz said, "This is clearly an opportunity for further research."
These results are simply amazing, from 14 to 36 ng/mL in 8 weeks and the study was conducted in the winter, when levels should fall, not rise. Just think, if the pleiotropic (many effects) statin drugs work by simply raising Vitamin D levels (and statins' pleitropic effects are certainly not mediated through lowering cholesterol levels), then that is one expensive way to raise Vitamin D levels. However, it is the perfect commentary on the American health care system; that is, in America we use statins to treat Vitamin D deficiency, not Vitamin D.
Studies have also shown that the elderly (who are more likely to take statins) have a lower death rate to H1N1. Possibly due to residual immunity to a prior H1N1-variant.
But how quickly do the statins exercise protective effects?
Have you ever considered trying out for the Olympics, in the broad-jump event? ;-) Seriously, that's quite a leap from "A correlation between statin use and lower death rate was seen for patients hospitalized for H1N1 infection" to "Statins protect against flu". Any support for it?
Quick math lesson:
Those NOT taking statins were 50% MORE likely to die.
Those taking statins were 33% less likely to die.
'Pretty low risk of dying from Swine flu'? You wouldn't know it from the hyped up media and the White House.
'Pandemic', 'more than needed vaccines', 3 shots needed!, then 2, then 1 needed, vaccine 'shortages', deaths', National Emergency.
So many had it, they said don't bother to count. Now suddenly they have statistics, that's not possible. Every time one person died, it ran over and over like hundreds had died.
From a mild flu.
Then a National Emergency declared!!!
News media repeatedly touting shortages, showing people waiting in line for shots for blocks, in the rain!
Only now are they admitting it's a mild flu.
So why all the hysteria? And Billions taken from us again, when pandemic measures had already been established, years ago.
Fake DOW numbers, Fake swine flu numbers.
And they wonder why we have no confidence.
Follow the money!
Follow the power grab.
Always is a constant state of upset with this Administration. But if not, how do you 'not let a crisis go to waste'?
Reuters is quoted: "Overall, 2.1 percent of patients taking statins died, compared to 3.2 percent of patients not taking statins. That means patients taking statins were just under 50 percent less likely to die."
That looks like a mistake. The two numbers shown would mean that patients taking statins were 34% less likely to die [.34 = (3.2-2.1)/3.2]
It seems likely that the "just under 50%" may have come from using the wrong denominator, since 1.1/2.1 is just under 50%.
Not having read the original study I can't be sure whether the "just under 50%" is justified in some other way. However, it isn't justified by the figures in the news report.
Interesting data, but at this point only that, interesting. Nice for me that I take a stain already. I don't believe that statins substantailly increase 25(OH) Vit D levels. I am an endocrinologist and see diabetics (almost all on statins) daily. Vitamin D deficiency is pretty much ubiquitous in my patients. Even those on statins run in the 10-24 range in the absence of Vit D supplemenation.
Statins are fine for LDL, but for Vit D deficiency go for the over the counter Vit D3; 2,000 IU daily is safe long term (and probably necessary), but usually even more is needed initially to restore liver stores. Get your level to the 50-80 range.
But statin research gets the funding because pharma has patents on them, not fish oil.
Most of the popular statins are generic. I pay $12 retail for a thirty day supply of simvastatin. Online fish oil hawkers boast that their 30 days supplies of fish oil are only $35.
Who's greedy again?
The Jupiter Study showed that statins(Crestor)could significantly reduce cardio and cerebro-vascular events in individuals WITHOUT elevated lipid levels. It is suggested that statins have a positive effect of reducing inflammation at the vascular endothelial level thereby lowering the incidence of rupture of atheromatous plaque which causes stroke or myocardial infarction.The marker for endothelial inflammation is the simple and cheap HS-CRP (high sensitivity C-reactive protein) blood test.
Perhaps statins acting on the pulmonary vascular endothelium reduce inflammation which can lead to H1N1 viral pneumonia which can be catastrophic and notoriously difficult to teat successfully.
Just get the darn flu shot! Got my H1N1 on Wednesday.
Good news if you're over fifty. There's a good chance you already some immunity to H1N1.
"People born before 1957 may be less susceptible than younger people to the H1N1 swine flu.
CDC researchers have detected antibodies in the blood of older people that neutralize the new flu bug now sweeping the nation, Daniel Jernigan, MD, MPH, deputy director of the CDC's flu division."
Read the rest of the story--and other ways to keep those flu bugs away.
"NPR's Amazing Animated Story of a Sneeze and How To Fight Off Viral Invaders Like a Ninja"
http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/happy_healthy_long_life/2009/10/flu.html
No, it's 35% less likely to die. "Just under 50% less likely to die" is not, IMHO, a reasonable shorthand for that.
http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/canopusbiopharma/34441/
CANOPUS BIOPHARMA AND LEADING CHINESE RESEARCHER TEAM UP TO TREAT AVIAN INFLUENZA, TO PREVENT POSSIBLE PANDEMIC
Major Threat Treatable with StatC™; FDA-Approved Drugs to Begin Testing in U.S. Animal Models
LOS ANGELES, Calif and GUANGZHOU, China (August 12, 2008) /PRNewswire/ — An internationally renowned avian influenza expert today hailed "encouraging and exciting" results from experiments conducted by his research team. This study demonstrated impressive efficacy of a novel statin/caffeine combination, StatC™ in the treatment and prevention of H5N1, H1N1 and H3N2 in a mouse model.
Dr. Jiahai Lu, from the School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, has published extensively in the field of avian influenza, and has been researching the breakthrough compound StatC™ for the past two years on behalf of Canopus BioPharma (OTCPK:CBIA), a US corporation who discovered and patented the potential of this antiviral candidate.
"The global distribution of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has caused the World Health Organization to show its profound concern regarding the possibility of the virus spreading from human to human in the future," stated Dr. Lu. "Furthermore, the development of resistance to two approved anti-influenza drugs, oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) and zanamivir (Relenza®), as well as the lack of adequate vaccines has increased the need of developing new antiviral drugs."
"Consequently, I am delighted to be involved in the preclinical research stage of this innovative antiviral candidate, and look forward to continuing our successful collaboration with Canopus BioPharma in this area."
Dr. Lu and his colleagues have conducted extensive animal studies with StatC™ against three influenza strains, H5N1 (avian influenza, bird flu), H1N1 (Spanish influenza) and H3N2 (Hong Kong influenza). StatC™ is a combination of two FDA approved compounds which have been re-formulated by Canopus BioPharma for the prevention and treatment of Influenza. Oseltamivir and ribavirin were used as positive controls in this study. In the H5N1 model, StatC™ prevented and relieved the symptoms of H5N1 infection, inhibited lung damage and H5N1 virus replication in the lungs of mice, and was as effective as oseltamivir in both prevention and therapy models. There were no animals with positive viral detection in the groups nasally administered with StatC™. Likewise, StatC™ demonstrated similar results against the H3N2 and H1N1 viruses.
"We are encouraged with these findings," said Dr. Lu. "It is possible that higher doses of statin than those used in this study may result in even greater efficacy. StatC™ also appeared to be more effective when administered preventatively." With current positive results, Canopus BioPharma is looking to form a co-development agreement or licensing arrangements with pharmaceutical companies and Government health authorities interested in providing more economical and universal treatment for their populations in the event of a pandemic.
At the forefront of influenza research in Guangzhou, China, Dr. Lu is perfectly placed to further investigate the synergistic properties of the statin/caffeine combination. "We are also motivated at the potential of this compound in comparison with other currently available anti-influenza medications. It's clear that there is significant global need for a superior, low cost and plentiful alternative in the fight against influenza." added Dr. Lu. While StatC™ has proven to be highly efficacious against the most virulent strains of influenza, it must be noted that StatC™ is also extremely effective against non-fatal, human forms of the virus that occur annually.
Approved by the Food and Drug Administration, oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) is the leading prescription medicine approved for the prevention and treatment of influenza in adults and children. Datamonitor, the world's leading provider of online data, analytic and forecasting platforms for key vertical sectors, forecasts that global market demand for influenza treatments will expand to 370 million doses and a market value of approximately $3.7 billion by 2010.
Canopus BioPharma's strategy for developing StatC™ includes continued animal testing in partnership with its extensive network of American and Chinese based research laboratories. The next step involves a ferret animal model using a lethal strain of influenza to examine the efficacy of StatC™. Once completed, Canopus BioPharma's preclinical results will then satisfy the FDA's Animal Efficacy Rule and will make StatC™ available for Government stockpiling for use in the case of a pandemic.
About Canopus BioPharma, Inc.:
Canopus BioPharma, Inc. (OTCPK:CBIA) is dedicated to providing the safest, most cost effective and efficacious pharmaceutical products and assay methods in the areas of infectious disease, radiation protection, cancer, and addiction. With innovative science, proven research and development leadership, and superior products and compounds, Canopus BioPharma has, since 2001, been committed to becoming a market trend setter in a new era of healthcare. In addition, the Company is a world leader in the development of novel camelid antibody products to provide unique avenues of progress and improvement in assay methods and monitoring capabilities for physicians, patients and researchers, particularly for food chain protection applications. Canopus maintains staff in Australia, South Africa, Ireland and the USA. Additional information on the Company is available at www.canopusbiopharma.com.