Comment by LinuxBender | Hacker News Reader

Comment by LinuxBender | Hacker News Reader

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I am not a scientist, but I have been following the scientists that are studying this. Chloroquine is a zinc ionophore much like the supplement Quercetin [1][2][3]. Both allow zinc to be transported into the cell, preventing or slowing the RNA transcoding process that hijacks your replicator functions. This vastly slows down the replication, allowing your adaptive immune system to get ahead of and destroy the virus faster than it can replicate.

I am not familiar with the observations around type-O blood, but I have been following the discussions on ACE2 and ACE/ACE2 inhibitors (blood pressure meds) which is interesting. The jury is still out on that one, but the theory for ARB's is forcing a binding that blocks nCoV from attaching to the receptor. [4]

[1] - https://examine.com/supplements/quercetin/

[2] - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25050823

[3] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE4_LsftNKM Chloroquin, Quecertin 6 mins in

[4] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vZDVbqRhyM

Given that Chroloquine has been around for a long time and that it is well studied, is there any merit to assume that using it was not a random idea and that it works against some other known RNA viruses?

It is know to be a zinc ionophore so I would not call it random. That said, it is known to have some side effects. [1] My concern around its use is that it requires a prescription. People won't likely be using this until a doctor prescribes it. By the time a person has gone to a doctor, the virus has likely already replicated quite extensively. Zinc ionophores would be most beneficial if taken very early on after initial infection.

[1] - https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682318.html

Apparently the possible utility of chloroquine was discovered because SLE patients on it in China weren't getting Covid-19 during the outbreak [0].

[0]: https://www.jqknews.com/news/388543-The_novel_coronavirus_pn...

Chloroquine was discovered effective against SARS-coronavirus following the 2003 outbreak.

Based on your research, would you suggest taking Quercetin daily as a supplement?

I don't suggest taking anything to anyone. You should research a supplement and compare its benefits and risks based on your physiology. There probably isn't a one size fits all answer with most phytochemicals. I personally use it to boost the effect of TransResveratrol.

I'm not near being a scientist, but the wikipedia page for Resveratrol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resveratrol) lists no health effects, what effects are you taking that for?

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