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  • 2020-03-02 (xsd:date)
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  • Did a Noted Pathologist Write This Viral Coronavirus Advice Letter? (en)
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  • In late February 2020, as a new coronavirus spread worldwide, a letter providing advice on avoiding a viral infection was shared and memed heavily. The letter is attributed to pathologist James Robb who described himself as one of the first molecular virologists in the world to work on coronaviruses. The letter itself provides common-sense solutions to preventing disease transmission: The portion of the missive that garnered the most attention, however, was the pathologist's recommendation of zinc lozenges: This portion of the letter apparently resulted in memes suggesting the product Cold-Eeze was a silver bullet that would kill coronavirus: We reached out to Robb to ask if he was the author of this letter. Via email, he told us that he did indeed write it, but that it was never meant to be for anyone besides family and close friends, and that it was not intended to be an advertisement for any specific product: His history with coronaviruses is accurately recounted. In the late 1970s, as professor of pathology at the University of California, San Diego, Robb published some of the earliest descriptions of coronaviruses. He also published a book chapter on this class of viruses for Comprehensive Virology. While Robb does recommend zinc lozenges (of any brand, he told us), he would not describe the product as the silver bullet solution to the outbreak: In general terms, research suggests that zinc may be able to inhibit the spread of some viral infections, but the question remains scientifically unsettled. A 2010 study using cell cultures published in PLOS One found evidence that increasing intracellular zinc concentrations can efficiently impair the replication of a variety of RNA viruses including coronaviruses. According to the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, trials conducted in high-income countries since 1984 investigating the role of zinc for the common cold symptoms have had mixed results. The common cold is, in some cases, caused by a virus also classified as a coronavirus. Because the letter was written by him, we rank this claim as Correctly Attributed to Robb. For more tips on protecting against the coronavirus, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tip sheet here. (en)
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