Covid-19 Virus.
PUREBIOTICS® official Coronavirus (Covid-19) position paper (PDF found here)
For the past dozen years, the PureBiotics® Team has been trying to educate the public about the fact that all of us live in Two Worlds – the World you can see, and the invisible Micro-World comprised of trillions of microorganisms from bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea and many other creatures and allergens on every inch of your skin and every surface you touch... and how to control this hoard that greatly affects our health.
As the outbreak of the COVID-19 Virus has now become officially a Worldwide Pandemic, PureBiotics® is constantly bombarded with many questions about what can be done about the Coronavirus and the effectiveness of PureBiotics’ StaBiotic® (probiotic) solutions for personal care and cleaning products.
We have issued this document to provide the correct information on the latest COVID-19 information, what to expect and how to use the PureBiotics® products.
First, please understand that some Corona type viruses (so named because of the “Crown” look around them) have been known. HOWEVER – THE COVID-19 VIRUS IS TOTALLY NEW. It has never been seen before and a great deal of necessary information is not yet known about it.
This includes some vitally needed data, such as – “If you are infected, are you then immune to reinfection...!?” No one yet knows, as well as about many other factors that are of great importance to us (like does it have summer or winter peaks – but one of our most famous and highly regarded stars, Tom Hanks and his wife both have the COVID-19 Virus while they are in Australia, which is in Australia’s extremely hot summer months now.
But as the weeks and months go by, many answers will evolve. And, until the CDC and other dependable sources provide information, please do not depend on internet sources that are not fully vetted.
In the meantime, please understand that even though we have products that may be of real help – THERE IS NOT ONE SINGLE PRODUCT IN THE WORLD CAN PREVENT DIRECT TRANSMISSION OF THIS, OR ANY AEROSOLIZED VIRUS (tiny sneezed or coughed particles) other than with full barrier gowns and gear. Therefore, the need is to focus on the indirect transfer through hands, surfaces or objects.
PureBiotics® products contain proprietary broad-spectrum probiotics for microscopic action to provide improved hygiene and ongoing protection. Upon each application, the probiotics will continue to stay working on any surface on which they are applied (from hard and soft surfaces, like textiles to skin). This provides in order to provide several important and unique benefits:
❑ TRUE MICROSCOPIC CLEANING ACTION: Working all the way down to the microscopic surface, the PureBiotic® Solutions eliminate even those unseen microscopic particles that most cleaners and disinfectants to not remove. PureBiotics® work in a number of ways, including by its probiotics producing enzymes that digest organic pollution in order to make the surface truly microscopically clean. Further, the PureBiotics® continuously remain active 24 hours a day for up to several days!
❑ PROVIDING ONGOING PROTECTION AND A HEALTHY MICROBIOME: PureBiotics® are beneficial “Good” bacteria that fully cover all the surfaces they are sprayed on, including skin, to reduce the risk of infection (as has been proven by many hospital studies and clinical trials listed in the documentation library).
In order to fully benefit from this superior probiotic protection, PureBiotics® advises taking the following actions and related products:
SURFACE CLEANING: Since contact with infected surfaces is one of the prime means by which the Coronavirus is transmitted – and COVID-19 and other viruses may survive longer on surfaces that contain biofilm or a lot of organic pollution. Cleaning with any of the PureBiotics® Probiotic Cleaning Products will assure that the PureBiotic cleaned surface both becomes and then remains free of organic pollution. The PureBiotics® will continuously keep cleaning the surface for up to days after each application! Creating such a clean surface will also improve the efficacy of disinfectants, if they are needed. And, spraying with PureBiotics® after disinfecting also is a key benefit in preventing re-infections (which is another subject of great interest).
RECOMMENDED PRODUCT: PureBiotic® Mist (Probiotic Environmental Control) for fogging and PureBiotics® All Purpose Cleaner and PureBiotics® Floor Cleaner.
FREQUENCY OF APPLICATION: Use at least twice per week and daily for kitchen and toilets.
HAND HYGIENE: The most dangerous and direct pathway of transmitting COVID-19 from one person to another - is through hand contact. Everything an infected person touches and anything you touch can transfer the virus to each other. Therefore, cleaning your hands with the Microscopic Cleaning Power of PureBiotic products will create a healthy and protective skin microbiome on your hands and skin to strongly lower the risk of pathogenic transfer.
RECOMMENDED PRODUCT: PureBiotic® Hand & Face Soap, Shower Gel and Hand Gel.
FREQUENCY OF APPLICATION: Though PureBiotics® normally keep working and protecting for up to days, hands and your skin is subject to washing, sweating, etc. so that PureBiotics® should be applied a few times a day and after each contact with a contaminated surface and should be used after any visit to the bathroom and especially after hand shaking.
TEXTILES AND HARD TO REACH SURFACES: Note that textiles and some surfaces are much harder to reach and clean than others, so they require more attention. This may result in possible hot spot for the Coronavirus. PureBiotics® has been using a range of standard and ultrasonic fogging units to better and faster cover all possible surfaces and objects with a the PureBiotics’ beneficial microflora to lower the risk of infections and note that no wiping is required after fogging.
RECOMMENDED PRODUCT: See the list of recommended foggers plus the PureBiotics® available residence and business facilities automatic mounted units.
FREQUENCY OF APPLICATION: The frequency is provided through the unit’s automatic timer for the permanently installed units.
FOR PERSONAL PROTECTION: In addition to a proper hand hygiene, there is another major methodology of protection of how people can further protect themselves. It has been proven that the Corona COVID-19 Virus normally first infects the upper respiratory tract and sinuses. Making sure these areas also harbor a healthy microbiome will lower the risk of infection. PureBiotics has been performing several years of research to promote such a healthy microbiome by means of treating the air with the PureBiotic Mist that is also made especially for HVAC PureBiotic Air Units that are extremely effective and 100% safe.
RECOMMENDED PRODUCT: PureBiotic Mist and PureBiotic HVAC Solution as well as by using in a mister and via spray cans.
FREQUENCY OF APPLICATION: Direct application at least twice daily and via HVAC installed air systems, as per the instruction manual set up for the needs of the specific building.
SUMMARY:
If people following the common-sense rules and by paying attention to the sensible prevention measures also available here, such as using proper hygiene and using the correct products properly, one can significantly lower the risk of infection.
Further, if you should get infected, do not panic. COVID-19 in 80% of the cases is hardly more lethal compared to the standard yearly flu. And, if you have any breathing problems, then immediately seek professional medical help. It is also critical to avoid infecting others by keeping a distance away from others and paying close attention to your hand hygiene and probiotic treatment of the rooms in which you stay.
PureBiotics will continue to provide ongoing information as it becomes available and we hope you will find that the superior protection that the PureBiotics® probiotic technology provides. More information on the PureBiotics products and technology can be found at www.PureBioticsUSA.com.
We Wish You All Good health...!
A possible means of providing mitigation or relief for respiratory distress caused by COVID-19. (PDF found here)
by Graham Noll
At this juncture with thousands dying and economies of the world being decimated, it makes sense to think of using novel and disruptive solutions for dealing with the pandemic.
If the Covid-19 pathology has bacterial pathogens in its methodology, either directly as a means of carrying the viral infection, as a secondary opportunistic bacterial infection, and also in the creation of biofilm, that allows the protection of the virus, then disrupting the bacterial link in the biologic chain of events may help reduce the symptoms. By greatly reducing the pathogens available to further complicate or infect the host, and/or removing the biofilm, we may also relieve, to some degree, the worst symptoms of the disease.
While not a cure, if the worst and most detrimental symptoms can be mitigated, the severity of the disease and the mortality rate may be reduced.
The PureBiotic Mist studied may have the ability to provide just such an intervention. The PureBiotic solutions studied have an over 15-year peer reviewed history of reducing the presence of many, if not most, bacterial pathogens in almost all settings and environments with not one complaint or known case of ill effects. There are many hospital and university studies attesting to the efficacy of the product in safely removing bacterial pathogens from environments and from living tissue.
If what has been anecdotally noted about the Coronavirus being synergistically carried or attached to bacteria, especially the type that resides in the lung microbiome ecosystem, is accurate, then there is the additional possibility that reducing and/or disrupting the bacteria could be the silver bullet that saves many lives and reduces the severity of the full blown Covid-19 disease.
The Purebiotic Mist or Solutions control pathogenic bacteria, but indirectly affect viruses, however since they do greatly reduce the presence of pathogenic bacteria by way of quorum sensing and competitive advantage resource exclusion and will remove the biofilm on all surfaces down to the bare microscopic level.
The biofilm that normally provides viruses a hospitable environment and allows the viruses to avoid environmental cleaning and/or degradation, when removed, makes the viruses more vulnerable to environmental stress.
As noted above, the products work in a number of ways by resource exclusion, removing available water, food and deconstructing biofilm, while also introducing quorum sensing factors, thus avoiding the all too prevalent and erroneous “kill 99.9%” paradigm that promotes bacterial mutation into difficult to treat or untreatable drug resistant bacteria.
Though not originally intended for internal use, there is ample animal studies and anecdotal evidence that inhalation of a limited amount of a fine aerosol of these probiotics helps clear lungs of a range of detrimental bacterial problems and possibly (though it can not yet be claimed without full studies to indicate the actual value) may weaken the viruses by removing the host bacteria and weakening or removing biofilm.
PureBiotics has also been shown to reduce allergens and reactions in those with suppressed immune systems. (The product was originally designed to protect a “Bubble Baby - an immune-deficient infant). Utilizing PureBiotics for this reason alone may be sufficient to reduce symptoms and of course, may save lives.
Again, though no one can claim any direct evidence that this will help Covid-19 patients, however, since there is no known mitigating treatment and PureBiotic is inherently safe, it makes sense to consider trying and studying its use as a treatment of all surfaces and that team is also investigating use for symptoms on a compassionate basis. Anecdotally we have noted that the products has, in many cases over the years, had a prophylactic effect against bacterial based problems and has possibly weakened viral infections or at least appeared to restrict the secondary infections connected with initial viral infections, though any definitive claims cannot be made at this point.
Since we are all now facing an unprecedented and desperate situation, it would seem most fortunate that we may all have a partial solution to mitigating the symptomatic effects of Covid-19. Since the product has no known deleterious side effects and will either likely benefit users/patients to varying degrees or do nothing, it make sense that the product be used on a compassionate basis in an attempt to reduce the suffering and mortality rate as soon as possible.
The group of us that have been looking into this unique solution sincerely hope and encourage others to also consider testing the efficacy of PureBiotics as a possible means of saving lives, reducing the rate of infection and as a prophylactic addition for health care workers.
Graham Noll.
LAB REPORT (pdf found here)
Kara Gavin
Bacteria in your lungs? New microbiome study shows how they get there
Bacteria in the lungs may play a major role in disease — and health. Researchers have just mapped where the bacteria are and how they arrived, paving the way for more discoveries about the lung microbiome.
They traveled a huge distance, evaded a protective barrier and found themselves in a strange and unwelcoming land.
They may be linked to dangerous diseases and are under constant threat of being expelled from their adopted home. Their contribution to the greater community is only beginning to be understood. And every day, more of them arrive.
They’re bacteria living in human lungs.
New research pinpoints just how they get there, and it opens the door to more work on what happens to them — and our bodies — as a result.
Writing in the journal mBio, researchers from the University of Michigan Medical School and VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System offer microbiome-based evidence that most of the bacteria in the lungs of healthy people got there by way of microaspiration.
In other words, they ride in on tiny droplets of saliva that made it from the microbe-filled mouth to the lungs. That means they avoided the movable tissue barrier, called the epiglottis, which keeps most saliva from getting into the lower respiratory tract.
By studying the DNA of these bacteria throughout the lungs of healthy volunteers, the researchers confirmed that the population of microbes in the lungs closely resembles the population found in the mouth. And by studying the microbes’ distribution within the airways, the researchers could determine their most likely entry route.
They found that many of the immigrant microbes make their home near the main carina, the spot at the end of the trachea where the airway branches off to the left and right lungs. This spot in the lungs is a “landing pad” where aspirated saliva — because of gravity and our upright posture — is likely to collide with the airway. But some bacteria manage to make it all the way to the deepest reaches of the pulmonary system and reside in the tiny air sacs called alveoli.
Wherever the bacteria land, the researchers found, they join a community made up mostly of other recent immigrants. Few microbes are thought to be long-term residents of healthy lungs. Unlike the gut, healthy lungs are an inhospitable environment for bacteria, with little nutrition and constant surveillance by the immune system.
“This is the most comprehensive topographic survey of the healthy lung microbiome to date. It adds to the evidence that healthy lungs are like an island whose population is determined by the balance of immigration and elimination of species: who moves in and who moves out,” says Robert P. Dickson, M.D., the first author of the new study. “The microbiome of the lung plays by a different ecologic rulebook than the gut microbiome, and this study helps clarify what those rules are.”
Inspired by classic models of ecology, Dickson and his colleagues propose an “adapted island model” of the lung microbiome, in which the competing pressures of microbial immigration and elimination determine the lung’s ecosystem.
"This is the most comprehensive topographic survey of the healthy lung microbiome to date."
Robert P. Dickson, M.D.
Careful exploration
The new paper doesn’t just describe the lung microbiome ecosystem; it also shows that scientists who want to study it in the future can feel confident using the standard techniques doctors already use to look for lung disease.
Dickson and his colleagues did their study in eight healthy volunteers who underwent bronchoscopy at the VA.
The team obtained the lung bacteria using two techniques to sample nine separate sites in the lungs of each volunteer. One technique, called protected specimen brushing, used a special catheter that keeps bacteria from the mouth and throat from contaminating the samples taken in the airways.
Suspicion of such contamination has kept some researchers from fully accepting the results of previous lung microbiome research. So to test for this contamination, the researchers took one sample on a brush held in the middle of the airway and the rest using brushes that they gently touched to the airway wall.
The researchers got other samples through bronchoalveolar lavage, in which they squirt a small amount of fluid into the deepest part of the lung and suction it back into the bronchoscope, bringing microbes along with it.
They then analyzed the bacterial DNA found in all these samples.
“We found no evidence of upper respiratory tract bacteria in these contamination control specimens,” says Dickson. “This reassured us that the rest of our samples truly reflected lung bacteria and not just contamination from the procedure” brought in by the bronchoscope as it passed through the throat.
Taken together, the results suggest bronchoscope-based techniques can be used to study the lung microbiome — in sickness and in health.
“The lungs are our largest interface with the outside environment, with 70 square meters of surface area,” says Dickson. “That’s 30 times the size of the skin and twice the size of the gastrointestinal tract. And this study confirms that they’re under constant bombardment by diverse communities of bacteria.”
The researchers emphasize that these volunteers were healthy and had no symptoms that suggested pneumonia or other respiratory disease. “These volunteers were as healthy as you or me,” Dickson says. “We are probably all aspirating small amounts of bacteria constantly, and so long as our immune system is intact, they rarely make us sick.”
Dickson notes that microaspiration in healthy people has been observed for nearly a century in studies using medical imaging techniques. “We’ve known about the existence of microaspiration for decades,” says Dickson. “But this is the first time we’ve been able to find its ecologic fingerprint.”
Taking the research forward Dickson and his colleagues aim to focus future research on what happens in people who have problems with the elimination part of this equation.
Inability to cough irritants out of the lung, or to carry them out through the sweeping action of hairlike cilia on lung cell surfaces, could lead to more microbes staying longer in the lungs than normal. And that could lead to a higher risk of lung infection.
Such research could lead to better understanding of the lung microbiome’s importance in conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis and the types of lung failure seen in intensive care units like the one where Dickson works at Michigan Medicine, the U-M academic medical center.
“If healthy lungs are like Antarctica — where conditions aren’t good for reproduction — then diseased lungs are more like a tropical island, where lower rates of elimination and altered environmental conditions permit the persistence and reproduction of certain bacteria,” he says.
As the father of two young children, Dickson also thinks it would be interesting to study how the lung microbiome changes when a person has a viral infection that causes the upper respiratory tract to produce more nasal secretions. “I certainly look at my kids with their constantly runny noses and wonder if their lung microbiome looks more ‘nasal’ than ‘oral.’”
And as researchers begin to uncover the impact of common medications such as antibiotics and proton pump inhibitors on the microbiome in the digestive system, he notes that it’s not unreasonable to think that these drugs also affect the lung microbiome. He and colleagues have already found evidence that the lungs are filled with gut microbes in critically ill patients.
In addition to Dickson, the new study’s authors are John R. Erb- Downward, Christine M. Freeman, Lisa McCloskey, Nicole R. Falkowski, Gary B. Huffnagle and Jeffrey L. Curtis. Huffnagle holds a joint appointment in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology.
The research was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (TR000433, HL130641, HL098961, HL114447) and the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research, the U-M Medical School’s Host Microbiome Initiative and the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care.