SARS Covid: The View From 2005
I think many readers are aware that as long ago as 2005 the "potent" anti-viral properties of Chloroquine--with specific application to the SARS Coronavirus, the progenitor of SARS Covid 2019--were well known. Today at FR there's a post of portions from a well known 2005 study. One of the commenters notes that at the time this was published the study was lauded by none other than Tony Fauci. So, if you're wondering why nobody seems to have been working on a vaccine for SARS, this may be the answer: Why develop a vaccine for a disease for which we appear to have a highly effective treatment?
Ah, those were the days of long ago, the days of our innocence, when nobody imagined you could get away with suppressing safe and effective treatments, scare the bejabbers out of the general population with a hoax casedemic, and then make a killing off a vaccine that wasn't really needed. Along those lines, the top medical official in Chicago has now announced that healthy individuals under 65 needn't bother.
Here's what was posted at FR:
Chloroquine is a potent inhibitor of SARS coronavirus infection and spread
Virology Journal ^ | 22 August 2005 | Martin J Vincent, Eric Bergeron, Suzanne Benjannet, Bobbie R Erickson, Pierre E Rollin, Thomas G Ksi
Posted on 2/7/2021, 11:37:35 AM by Slyfox
Background
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is caused by a newly discovered coronavirus (SARS-CoV). No effective prophylactic or post-exposure therapy is currently available.
Results
We report, however, that chloroquine has strong antiviral effects on SARS-CoV infection of primate cells. These inhibitory effects are observed when the cells are treated with the drug either before or after exposure to the virus, suggesting both prophylactic and therapeutic advantage. In addition to the well-known functions of chloroquine such as elevations of endosomal pH, the drug appears to interfere with terminal glycosylation of the cellular receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. This may negatively influence the virus-receptor binding and abrogate the infection, with further ramifications by the elevation of vesicular pH, resulting in the inhibition of infection and spread of SARS CoV at clinically admissible concentrations.
Conclusion
Chloroquine is effective in preventing the spread of SARS CoV in cell culture. Favorable inhibition of virus spread was observed when the cells were either treated with chloroquine prior to or after SARS CoV infection. In addition, the indirect immunofluorescence assay described herein represents a simple and rapid method for screening SARS-CoV antiviral compounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at virologyj.biomedcentral.com ...