Microbiology and Immunology

There have been some promising developments regarding Chloroquine (a generic anti-malarial) as a potential treatment for COVID-19. South Korea has apparently begun incorporating it into their treatment regimens, with positive results. Chloroquine (chloroquine diphosphate) allows Zinc to permeate the cell membrane and inhibit the replication of the virus. Here is the full breakdown with citations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7F1cnWup9M

Hello all on the Science Forums! This is my first post, I hope it's in the right category. I've come with a question that I haven't been able to have answered by even the most professional gastroenterologists in the country (Australia). I seem to be re-acquiring some form of illness or bodily dysfunction which induces gastroenteritis that my doctors and specialists have not been able to diagnose. About once every 2-3 years for the last ten years, I have been coming down with the usual onset of gastroenteritis symptoms (forgive me here as I will try not to go into any more detail than is absolutely necessary) but the symptoms include profuse watery diarrhea (up to…

I have asked this question to several doctors, the answer I receive is always something like this: It's odd or I have never seen it before. Here it is: Over 4 years ago I was bitten by a yellow and black insect (could have been red and black I do not remember well) on the arm. It was very painful for a few hours and than it was itching for several days. Since then, at the site of the bite, an itching new bump comes up every now and then (last time 2 weeks ago) and lasts a couple of hours. After four years it is becoming really annoying expecially since two years ago after the birth of my third child I started to developing several symptoms that point to an autoim…

I remember reading an article how nearly 600 people a year die of the common flu in the UK. Now imagine every country in europe you are going to have a large number of people. Who unfortunately will suffer from the flu virus. My question is has the media made us overeact to the corona virus ?. I am sure if the media had focused on the flu virus and its casualities there would be equally wide spread panic.

Hi, The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a document called "Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)". You can find it here: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr6002a1.htm Reference 79 in the document is the following paper: Nakayama T, Aizawa C, Kuno-Sakai H. A clinical analysis of gelatin allergy and determination of its causal relationship to the previous administration of gelatin-containing acellular pertussis vaccine combined with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids. J Allergy Clin Immunol 1999;103:321--5. Link to the paper: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9949325 The paper concludes: "Most anaphylactic reacti…

I was going to get a mircoscope and I was searching on ebay. I found a Amscope that sold superizingly cheap microscope and I was wondering if anyone bought a microscope from them and how relayiable they are and if it is worth buying? Site: http://www.amscope.com/ Product: http://store.amscope.com/b100b-ms.html

I was watching the movie '28 Days Later' the other day (no pun intended) and I couldn't help but wonder whether anything like the Rage Virus was possible even in theory. Now please don't think I'm an idiot for even asking this. I am a microbiology student and know full well that the behaviour of the virus in the movie is absolute nonsense; there is no way that any virus could not only enter the cell, but also replicate to such a massive extent as to cause any sort of disease over the course of ~10-20 seconds as portrayed in the film, even the fastest viruses know to man take at least an 20 minutes to replicate in their host. That part is just a bunch of Hollywood BS.…

This BBC article examines work from around the world measuring Covid mutations. Sadly there are now viable mutations. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53325771

After a scare that turned out to just be a cyst (which still isn't a fun thing to have on your penis btw), I got wondering: on average, how many one-night stands do you have to have before you get a viral STD? I was expecting it to not be a strait-forward answer, but I can't find any answer anywhere... anyone got any ideas? I'm asking because I usually use a condom (long-term girlfriends excluded), but occasionally don't. I figure that if the answers, e.g., 10, then i'll have to aim to have sex w/out a condom so rarely that I only do it, say, 5 times in my life so as to minimize the risk of an incurable disease. If the answer's 20, I can do it twice as often whils…

Hello everyone! What do you think about misusing coffee filters as makeshift face masks against Covid-19? Several countries lack face masks in the present epidemic. At least the shape fits the function. Cut the paper to fit the face better. Hold it on the face with surgical tape across the whole rim. Whether paper is good? Under rain it won't last long. The pores in a coffee filter are wider than a virus, but I understand a face mask stops only the droplets that contain the viruses. Marc Schaefer, aka Enthalpy

I was always curious: I read on the blue cheese package that the blue mold is penicillin. Would eating a lot of it have cured people during the black plague? thanx --flk

Any ideas what this may be? I've ruled almost every allergy item out any help greatly assisted there is definitely a trigger as had nothing before bed, tropical lucozade at 5am (which I have drunk for years but how stopping!!) and this was how I woke up?? I am allergic to grass pollen

Does anyone know what the quality Omano's microscope are? Are they a no name microscope dealer, or are they comparable or at least as known as Nikon, Olympus, or Carl Zeiss? I found some other microscope companies can someone tell if they are good? 1. Konus 2. Meade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori So, H. Pylori are nasty little germs that like to dig into the stomach of various species, humans included, and screw with the acid levels of the organism. They are extremophiles in a sense, and they are microorganisms. But, let's keep in mind that they're still microorganisms. And microorganisms don't like being put in a bottle of alcohol. It ruptures the proteins and cellular structure. So, here's my question to those with a wide knowledge of immunology and microbiology: Could a person drink liquor, wine, or other alcoholic drinks in order to remove and treat an H. Pylori infection? I suspect if a person m…

Our instructor told us that the bottom right slide was prophase and that the top middle slide is propase. My question is, how are you supposed to tell between these two? I thought the top middle one would be prophase too?

Can someone explain what the main differences are in functions of cytotoxic T cells versus natural killer cells (...and are there also "natural killer T cells")? Is it right that NK cells recognize virally infected cells by reduced MHC I expression because the infecting agent takes over host machinery so the host makes less proteins? And do cytotoxic T cells kill cells presenting viral peptides in MHC I? I am confused...also do they both kill by releasing cytotoxic granules into the infected cell, or what is the mechanism?

Hi: Vaccines are usually given via intramuscular injection. What are the risks if they are given intravenously instead? Thanks, Green Xenon

Hello, It seems to me that logically, antihistamines have to reduce the body's ability to fight off a cold or infection. For example... Let's say I have 2 events taking place in my body at the same time. Event 1: On Monday I contract a cold virus from my girlfriend and start showing symptoms. My understanding of one of the many things that is taking place inside me is that my granulocytes and other things are releasing histamine to fight this virus. The purpose of this histamine is to signal to other antibodies "Hey buddies, I need some help over here". The other antibodies get this message and come help fight the virus. Event 2: On Wednesday, I go over t…

Hi guys Just a quick question: is a T-lymphocyte bigger than a B lymphocyte? By about how much? I will appreciate a good answer!

I was wondering if I could sterilize glass petri dishes and melted agar in a microwave oven and how long would I put it on for, if possible?

Hi, All I feel its my moral responsibility to correct all misconceptions regarding HIV /AIDS. I can do this because I am educated enough to comment on this. This message is from Mayank who is working in Ranbaxy. He is serving as Brand Manager (Product Manager) handling anti HIV/AIDS portfolio (called as Antiretroviral Drugs) in Ranbaxy. Please read following points carefully & don't send emails related to Medical ailments without having complete knowledge about it (even partial knowledge could be grossly dangerous). * HIV (virus) requires *ONLY* *Blood or Semen* as medium to transmit from one body to another. * HIV *can not* transmit even t…

I am about to start an experiment to keep me busy this weekend and I need a way to kill of yeast. Obviously there are many extreme ways to do this, bleach, nuclear warhead, hot flame among others, but I would like to use something more specific to organisms such as antibiotics. Would antibiotics be effective against yeast even though yeast is non-pathogenic? I would imagine it would have some effect. In any case, thanks for the help. I hope this project can stave off the Bordom demons and give me some insight into how microbes function.

Polysorbate 80 contains oleic acid derived from vegetable oils. So it is not possible to guarantee that it is free of allergen proteins. For example, NOF Corporation claims "number one quality product in the world" for its "injectable grade" Polysorbate 80 HX2 product but it is not allergen free. http://polysorbate.jp/ Federal regulations below prohibit the addition of extraneous protein known to be capable of producing allergenic effects into injectable vaccines. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=610.15 Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 610.15 Constituent materials. These regulations state …

One of the episodes of a TV show I like to watch (Fringe, season 2) was about a oil drilling operation resulting in the release of a deadly (to put it mildly) virus which one of the characters hypothesizes might have been responsible for the eradication of the mega-fauna of the last ice age. While the idea of accidentally uncovering a dormant virus buried deep underground does sound at least somewhat plausible in principle, I strongly suspect that the 'cure' the Fringe team come up with is just a load of nonsense, but I wouldn't mind a second opinion. The scientist discovers that what ultimately rid the world of this doomsday virus 75 000 yeast ago was the last supervolca…

Hi, everyone! I'm currently enrolled in an Introductory Microbiology course and our final project is to separate and identify two unknown bacteria. I successfully identified one, but the other is proving difficult. Here is what I have so far: Culture morphology - the bacteria grows very fast, with large colonies (about 5mm or so). Colonies are opaque, cream-to-brown in color, irregular, with undulate margins. The texture is like rippled glass. Cell morphology - they are Gram positive rods that form oval spores. They look fairly large and form chians. Some of the chains can be pretty long. Gram Stain: Spore Stain: Biochemical Tests: Blo…