Peter Lederman in Second Bout With COVID-19

@lewm , keeping up on it! Several small quips. I have one older woman S/P hospitalization for Covid on supplemental O2 at home. I have seen several large pulmonary emboli resorb completely over the years. These micro emboli should resorb completely. I do not think you can see them on a CXR or even a CT. We know they are there because we see them at autopsy. It is unknown what happens with healing because we do not do posts on living people. Eventually we will know for sure. I am also not convinced that the vaccine gives better immunity than the disease. That would fly in the face of just about every other viral disease we developed vaccines for. Keep in mind the pharmaceutical industry controls the media. What do you think all those wasted dollars on commercials is about.  Young people may actually be better off getting the disease. There are many antigens on the surface of that virus. This is nature's way of training good immune systems for the next sars virus that comes along. Also keep in mind that this disease is extremely minor in most people. People who have gotten both the flu and covid will tell you almost universally that the flu is worse. This is not to belittle the seriousness of this disease in the elderly, seriously obese people, and diabetics. 

One other small point. I have had over 200 patients with Covid and two people expire. I have not had anyone get the disease twice, this is more than likely a delayed response to the initial infection or a miss diagnosis somewhere down the line. The tests we have been using are not the most accurate. Many false positives.

Another wishing Peter a quick and full recovery. We need his expertise in the audio world.

I just chatted with a cart tech/builder who works at Soundsmith. He said it isn’t good. He has actually taken a second job right now because the company is simply in bad shape overall without Peter there. As a small company, I can see that happening.

Mijo, Just to be clear and as I said the first time, I was not talking about "emboli"; I was talking about "microthrombi", tiny clots that occlude the capillaries that run in the alveolar septal walls and which are needed for oxygenation of blood. Those microthrombi are caused by direct virus infection of the endothelial cell lining of the capillary. Injured cells then release clotting factors locally, resulting in clot formation. This process is rather unique to COVID.  The mode of death in COVID very often involves the generation of these microthrombi on a massive scale throughout the lung, such that the patient does not have the alveolar perfusion necessary to maintain life off a ventilator.  Patients with COVID can certainly have classical pulmonary emboli, as well.

Like you, I also am not "convinced" that the (RNA) vaccines give more solid or longer lasting immunity to disease; I tried to convey the possibility that that "may" prove to be the case. Seasonal coronaviruses do not induce lifelong immunity to seasonal coronavirus diseases, and so it is possible that persons with COVID will not be protected lifelong from COVID. (Note, I am talking about clinical illness, not infection per se.) If the RNA vaccines induce effective memory responses, it is at least possible that long term protection will be as good as or better than natural infection in protecting from future disease. However, there is no way to know at this time. In 5 years, we will know. The reasons I say what I said about the RNA vaccines vs naturally acquired infection are complex, would take a couple of paragraphs to explain.

I do agree it seems that getting COVID twice (over the short history of the disease) is at least very rare. That’s why I wrote earlier that we probably don’t have all the facts straight regarding Peter L. Also, every documented second illness due to COVID that has been reported in the literature was LESS severe than the original disease in that person, except for one report that I can recall. So if PL is having his second illness, and if it’s worse than his first, he is in a very rare category for sure. There is a better chance that we don’t know all the facts.