Public health officials have focused on one specific aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and how to combat it with a vaccine. However, many issues are at play that go far beyond a single virus or this single pandemic. Humans encounter viruses every day. Some will make us sick, some will not.
What determines who gets sick from which virus is a complex issue involving genetics and toxic stressors that weaken your immune system. The toxic stressors may be biological, physical, or chemical in nature. They interfere with your immune system’s ability to fight viruses. As we begin to understand more about the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s crucial to also take a look at these toxic stressors that can lead to illness.
Exposure to toxic substances needs more attention and research targeting how they contribute to the spread of a pandemic. Pandemics are frequently seen as only a virology problem. Toxicology is typically disregarded. It’s time to end this practice.
A robust, healthy immune system, free from exposure to toxins, is a crucial component to fighting the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This virus is particularly adept at exploiting a weakened immune system that leads to a severe case of COVID-19.
Viruses are here to stay
Vaccines may help in fighting a pandemic, but we must also realize that viruses are all around us. They are here to stay. It is impossible to create a vaccine, or another type of injection, for every dangerous virus. Researchers have identified approximately 263 viruses from 25 virus families that are known to infect humans. In addition, researchers have identified over 1,100 viruses found in humans and animals. Still, this snapshot of the virus ecosystem is just that – a snapshot.
The research at The Global Virome Project suggests that this virus ecosystem may be at least 1.67 million viral species in mammals and birds. These viruses have yet to be identified. Approximately 827,000 have the potential to jump from animals to humans.
Some viruses may be beneficial to humans, such as helping regulate the gut microbiome or protect against non-infectious diseases. Plus, being exposed to viruses in a real sense enables your immune system to remain strong and responsive. The mammalian virus ecosystem includes symbiotic and pathogenic viruses, which challenge the human immune system continually. Our immune systems are strengthened through a healthy response to viruses, which then provides additional protection against other viruses.
Chronic conditions linked to the severity of COVID-19 and death
According to data from the CDC, approximately 5% of COVID-19 deaths list only COVID-19 as the cause of death. That means 95% have underlying conditions and comorbidities that contributed to the death. These comorbidities include high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, or cancer.
Many of these conditions are either caused by or exacerbated by toxic exposures like poor diet, inactivity, stress, and environmental chemicals. They increase the risk of contracting a severe case of COVID-19.
“In short, it is the pervasive, constant exposure to toxic stressors in our environment, in combination with genetic factors, that cause us to develop diseases that impair our immune systems and make us susceptible to serious COVID-19 infection,” reported the Alliance for Natural Health.
The researchers noted these factors to include:
- Biotoxins and biomaterials—this includes mold such as aflatoxin in addition to bacteria and viruses.
- Occupational and environmental exposures—This type of exposure can include endocrine-disrupting chemicals, heavy metals, air pollution, pesticides, radiation, fine particulate matter, disinfectants, and PFAs.
- Lifestyle—This includes physical inactivity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet including ultra-processed foods and refined grains, and chronic sleep deprivation.
- Pharmaceuticals and other medical side effects—Among adults 65 and older, 54 percent take four or more prescription drugs. Additionally, immunosuppressants, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), acetaminophen, antidepressants, antibiotics, nanomedicine products, adjuvanted vaccines, surgical stress, anesthesia, and ionizing radiation therapy can weaken the immune system.
- Psychosocial and socioeconomic factors—From depression to chronic stress, social isolation, stressful life events, and childhood adversity, these issues can also contribute to poor health.
In one study from the University of Bologna in Italy, researchers evaluated 482 COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized between March 1, 2020, and April 20, 2020. The researchers wrote: “Obesity is a strong, independent risk factor for respiratory failure, admission to the ICU, and death among COVID-19 patients,” they wrote, and the extent of risk was tied to a person’s level of obesity.
Even patients with mild obesity had a 2.5 times greater risk of respiratory failure and five times greater risk of being admitted to an ICU compared to non-obese patients. Those with a BMI of 35 and over—moderate or severe obesity—were also 12 times more likely to die from COVID-19.
In addition, COVID-19 may have a nutritional component, which means that using certain vitamins and minerals therapeutically may lower the risk of a severe case of COVID-19. Even so, public health officials have placed no emphasis on the impact of nutrient deficiencies as an official risk factor for COVID-19. Patients with COVID-19 who were given a combination of vitamin D, vitamin B12, and magnesium were significantly less likely to require ICU care or oxygen therapy compared to patients who did not receive those nutrients, according to a cohort study published in Nutrition in 2020.
The importance of toxicology to virology
The COVID-19 pandemic response has been on short-term measures such as lockdowns, quarantines, and vaccines. These do not address the ultimate need for long-term measures that improve human immune systems to help fight a pathogenic viral disease.
It’s very unfortunate because measures that strengthen the immune system are typically inexpensive, OTC, and readily available. These strategies may save many lives during future pandemics, according to researchers in the U.S., Spain, Russia, and Iran in an article published in Food and Chemical Toxicology in 2020.
“There are strong misconceptions about the role played by SARS-CoV-2 in the emergence of COVID-19, especially the severity of COVID-19 in selected demographic groups. These misconceptions result in treatments focused on virology without any consideration of toxicology: containing/attenuating SARS-CoV-2 exposure/viral loads rather than intrinsically strengthening the immune system,” they wrote.
“These virology-based actions do not address the underlying toxicology-based problems that must be addressed properly in order to decrease human vulnerability to infectious diseases, including COVID-19.”
Infectious diseases like COVID-19, SARS, and the flu have many elements in common, including the fact that only a small percentage of people who are exposed will develop symptoms. An even smaller number will die from the infection, frequently from developing acute respiratory distress syndrome or pneumonia.
Those individuals with underlying conditions have the greatest risk of dying from these infectious diseases. This includes advanced age, heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or high blood pressure.
Exposure to toxic stressors contributes to and exacerbates those comorbid conditions in addition to metabolic stress. Individuals with chronic conditions often have an elevated baseline inflammation, which also increases the risk of severe infection or death when exposed to a virus such as SARS-CoV-2. Many of these factors can be addressed and mitigated.
“The most severe consequences from COVID-19 and influenza stem from a degraded/dysfunctional immune system, and the exploitation of the degraded immune system by the virus. For a healthy immune system, the virus would be unable to overcome its strong defenses, and would be neutralized,” the researchers wrote.
A more effective method of protecting the public from a prolonged pandemic is likely a “quarantine” from toxins, such as environmental chemicals, ultra-processed foods, or radiation rather than quarantining healthy people from a single virus.