![Extra-terrestrial treasure: Prehistoric links to outer space found in Alicante province](https://cdn.thinkwebcontent.com/articles/33836/4x3/33836-1709061211--OEiwEC-Tesoro-Villena-byMUVI-museovillenacom.jpg)
OUTER space and the Bronze Age do not sit well in the same sentence – they may both have existed at the same time, but anyone based on Earth back then would not have known much, or anything, about what lies beyond.
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Dr José María Benlloch, professor at the National Research Council (CSIC) and head of the Molecular Imaging Instrumentation Institute (I3M), part of Valencia Polytechnic, says studies have shown that 80% of Covid patients admitted to hospital had a vitamin D deficiency.
Whether this is caused by the virus, or whether it is partly a cause of it, is not clear, but Dr Benlloch believes administering small doses of it could help to 'rapidly diminish the viral load' in those infected, breaking the contagion chain and 'flattening the curve' of the second wave.
It may seem surprising that anyone living in Spain would be vitamin-D deficient, given that just 15 minutes of skin exposure to sun per day on the face and all four limbs is enough to give the human body all it needs, and even when it is cold, as long as the weather is dry, the sun is nearly always shining bright in Spain.
This could be because autumn means covering up to stay warmer, so the sun only gets to the hands and part of the face – the other part is covered by a mask – or it could be that the virus itself depletes the vitamin D supply.
Vitamin D is essential for the body to be able to absorb calcium, needed for healthy bones, teeth, nails and nerves, and anthropologists believe naturally white-skinned races originated in parts of the Earth with limited sun or a long way from the coast – early humans able to include a lot of shellfish and crustaceans in their diet would have had a high enough vitamin D intake so as not to need to get their supply from the sun, but in cloudier, inland climates, they evolved to be pale-skinned so as to absorb as much sunlight as possible.
And now, it seems that it may be essential in the fight against Covid, for those diagnosed with it, and to reduce the risk of contagion for those who have not.
Dr Benlloch describes it as a 'prophylaxis' and says research is needed on what amount should be given, but insists that it would not be a 'cure' or a 'prevention' in itself, merely a complement to anti-viral medicine.
A pilot project using vitamin D has been under way for some months at Córdoba's Reina Sofía Hospital, led by Dr José Manuel Quesada, and is said to have generated some 'hopeful results' in reducing the need for patients to be admitted to intensive care.
Dr Benlloch says it is 'crucial' for 'accessible, efficient and cheap' anti-viral medication to be available to reduce the impact of the pandemic, and refers to published research by the CSIC (pictured above left) and Valencia Polytechnic which shows these drugs 'significantly reduce incidence' of Covid-19.
“The ideal scenario would be to have a very powerful, cheap anti-viral available in high-street chemists', and with no side-effects,” he explains.
“If, after being diagnosed in a local health centre, a patient could go and buy one, and they could also be administered to close contacts, this would break the chain, flatten the curve considerably and drastically lower the peak of contagion.”
But at present, there is no such drug available.
“The only one approved is Remdesivir, and the intended use for this is completely different to that which the CSIC research described – it's injectable, and only administered in hospitals.
“What we want is a Remdesivir-type medication that can be given, and has the chance to act, before the patient even has to end up in hospital.
“For this, we need to check the effectiveness of drugs that already exist and are on the market, and to do that, we need clinical trials with possible candidates.
“These could start as early as the end of the year,” Dr Benlloch reveals.
Without them, he expects the number of cases to keep rising, reaching a peak at the end of November or early December, and the number of fatalities to continue to climb until the start of 2021.
But he says these calculations were made in June, and had not taken into account the restrictions put in place since then to slow the spread of the virus, such as regional and even town border closures and a night curfew.
“Because of all that, these predictions probably won't come true; there was always going to be a second wave which was always very likely to be even worse than the first wave – which was already devastating enough – unless some measures were taken; but as they have, indeed, been taken, we're hoping it won't be quite so bad,” admits Dr Benlloch.
“These measures have managed to stop the second wave being as severe as predicted. In the regions which applied their restrictions the earliest, such as Catalunya and Madrid, we've seen that they're working – the curve has started to flatten and the impact is becoming less serious.
“If we were able to apply anti-viral medication, it would reduce even farther and, combining various actions like these, we would be able to contain it altogether.
“The same models, based upon how the second wave has evolved, could be used to predict how a hypothetical third wave evolves – although let's hope we don't have one.
“Our team is also analysing the effects that the various vaccines could have, and we hope to be able to publish the results in the next few days.”
OUTER space and the Bronze Age do not sit well in the same sentence – they may both have existed at the same time, but anyone based on Earth back then would not have known much, or anything, about what lies beyond.
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