Covid-19 and Carbon Monoxide

[OwlHoot]

I was thinking in the car while tootling down to Tescos in the nearest town ..

Could the loss of taste and smell reported as one Covid symptom be related somehow to CO (Carbon Monoxide)?

Isn't a suppression of taste supposed to be one of the downsides of smoking, and don't people who give up often remark on how much better their food tastes? Well tobacco smoke contains CO, so maybe that is the culprit in both cases.

Also, if smokers' bodies acclimatise and adjust to inhaling more CO then maybe their reportedly lower death rates from this virus are explained by being better able to deal with excess CO produced in some way (?) by its presence.

And, as DimPrawn pointed out, the Russkies appear to have a lower death rate from Covid. If the stats are not fake then maybe these lower death rates are because, as well as smoking, a lot of them doubtless use wood burning stoves and dodgy older cars all of which belch out CO!

Believe it or not, the body uses CO for various purposes, e.g. as part of a nerve signalling mechanism, see Wikipedia article Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is produced naturally by the human body as a signaling molecule. Thus, carbon monoxide may have a physiological role in the body, such as a neurotransmitter or a blood vessel relaxant.[40] Because of carbon monoxide's role in the body, abnormalities in its metabolism have been linked to a variety of diseases, including neurodegenerations, hypertension, heart failure, ...

So perhaps an effective treatment for those badly afflicted by this virus would be to suppress excess CO in the body by some means, although that is probably easier said than done.

The natural role of CO in the body (aside from its toxic effects) was only discovered in 1993, and is still an active area of research with many unknowns. But if I was a biochemist, looking for a killer app to tackle the symptoms of this virus, I think that's where I'd be looking!

[Old Greg]

I was thinking in the car while tootling down to Tescos in the nearest town ..

Could the loss of taste and smell reported as one Covid symptom be related somehow to CO (Carbon Monoxide)?

Isn't a suppression of taste supposed to be one of the downsides of smoking, and don't people who give up often remark on how much better their food tastes? Well tobacco smoke contains CO, so maybe that is the culprit in both cases.

Also, if smokers' bodies acclimatise and adjust to inhaling more CO then maybe their reportedly lower death rates from this virus are explained by being able to better deal with excess CO produced in some way (?) by its presence.

And, as DimPrawn pointed out, the Russkies appear to have a lower death rate from Covid. If the stats are not fake then maybe these lower death rates are because, as well as smoking, a lot of them doubtless use wood burning stoves and dodgy older cars all of which belch out CO!

Believe it or not, the body uses CO for various purposes, e.g. as part of a nerve signalling mechanism, see Wikipedia article Carbon monoxide



So perhaps an effective treatment for those badly afflicted by this virus would be to suppress excess CO in the body by some means, although that is probably easier said than done.

The natural role of CO in the body (aside from its toxic effects) was only discovered in 1993, and is still an active area of research with many unknowns. But if I was a biochemist, looking for a killer app to tackle the symptoms of this virus, I think that's where I'd be looking!

Are you saying you're not a biochemist?

[darmstadt]

Will there be a hosepipe shortage soon as well?

[ladymuck]

Will there be a hosepipe shortage soon as well?

A lapse in servicing of gas appliances too?

[OwlHoot]

Are you saying you're not a biochemist?

Well not until recently. But just as I was a constitutional expert during Brexit, I'm now a fully qualified barrack room virologist! Aren't we all?

Oh and further possible support of my conjecture that acclimatisation to higher CO levels due to pollution or smoking could alleviate Covid symptoms :

2020-04-24 Riddle as parts of India see death rates FALL amid coronavirus outbreak, bucking the global trend

Mind you, as the article says, that could be due to fewer traffic accidents and such like, given their abominable driving conditions and skills.

[sasguru]

I was thinking

Don't. The product is not much use in your case.

[Paddy]

I was thinking in the car while tootling down to Tescos in the nearest town ..

Could the loss of taste and smell reported as one Covid symptom be related somehow to CO (Carbon Monoxide)?

Isn't a suppression of taste supposed to be one of the downsides of smoking, and don't people who give up often remark on how much better their food tastes? Well tobacco smoke contains CO, so maybe that is the culprit in both cases.

Also, if smokers' bodies acclimatise and adjust to inhaling more CO then maybe their reportedly lower death rates from this virus are explained by being better able to deal with excess CO produced in some way (?) by its presence.

And, as DimPrawn pointed out, the Russkies appear to have a lower death rate from Covid. If the stats are not fake then maybe these lower death rates are because, as well as smoking, a lot of them doubtless use wood burning stoves and dodgy older cars all of which belch out CO!

Believe it or not, the body uses CO for various purposes, e.g. as part of a nerve signalling mechanism, see Wikipedia article Carbon monoxide



So perhaps an effective treatment for those badly afflicted by this virus would be to suppress excess CO in the body by some means, although that is probably easier said than done.

The natural role of CO in the body (aside from its toxic effects) was only discovered in 1993, and is still an active area of research with many unknowns. But if I was a biochemist, looking for a killer app to tackle the symptoms of this virus, I think that's where I'd be looking!

Perhaps the virus gets stuck in the tar laden lungs of smokers.

[OwlHoot]

Don't. The product is not much use in your case.

Stop being your usual smart-arse self for once and read this :

Carbon Monoxide and the Brain: Time to Rethink the Dogma

.. The only other person I know who had it (and confirmed with a test as they are in Germany) is still not compos mentis after 6 weeks.

Oh and this :

Structural and cognitive deficits in chronic carbon monoxide intoxication

[sasguru]

Stop being your usual smart-arse self for once and read this :

So what you're saying is that I should take seriously the brain fart that you had while toodling down to Tesco's?

Errm, think I'll pass.

TBH I lost interest when you raised as evidence the supposed Russian infection rate.

[Old Greg]

How does the CO interact with your iron lung proposal?