New CDC numbers suggest that pneumonia is the number one co-factor contributing to COVID-19 lethality. The implications are important since pneumonia cases that are bacteria-based normally outnumber viral cases by as much as four to one. Bacterial pneumonia is treated with antibiotics, which is exactly what physician “outsiders,” such as New York’s Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, have been advocating to combat COVID.
According to the CDC’s latest data, in nearly half of COVID-19 deaths, pneumonia was present:
- 375,323 total deaths from COVID in 2020
- 175,523 deaths from simultaneous pneumonia and COVID
- 3,344,726 deaths from all causes
The above numbers, updated on 11 February 2021, are from the CDC’s website.
Previous CDC data has indicated that well under 10 percent of COVID deaths have resulted from the presence of the virus in absence of other serious health conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and maladies such as cancer. But the new data on the presence of pneumonia is just as eye-opening. It suggests that combating COVID-19 with antibiotics, along the lines of what many front-line physicians were suggesting, was valid.
A study of 5,000 patients conducted from 2007 to 2014 by the Intermountain Medical Center (IMC) found bacterial pneumonia to be far more prevalent and consequential than viral pneumonia. The findings of that study, presented to the American Heart Association, confirmed that nearly 80 percent of the patients were diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia, compared to 21 percent with viral pneumonia.
And bacterial pneumonia was more deadly. Brent Muhlestein, MD, a cardiovascular researcher with the IMC, said,
“The likely underlying cause is that bacterial pneumonia causes greater inflammation of the arteries compared to viral pneumonia… The practical result of our study is that caregivers should be aware of the greater cardiovascular risks associated with respiratory infections like pneumonia, and especially bacterial pneumonia. If a patient has been diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia, treat it aggressively and watch them closely.”
TRENDPOST: Unfortunately, that protocol went out the window with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Zelenko announced his findings relatively early in the pandemic, saying that hydroxychloroquine, a standard FDA drug, together with azithromycin and zinc were highly effective in combating COVID if administered in a timely fashion.
When then-President Trump reacted positively to that news, media hell broke loose. They sensationalized baseless assessments that hydroxychloroquine could be life-threatening. Additionally, America’s so-called leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, threw cold water on the idea that anything but a new type of Big Pharma experimental vaccine would alleviate the health crisis.
Dr. Zelenko and many other frontline physicians were banned from social media, and hydroxychloroquine was famously put off the market by politicians for coronavirus use. Many have since questioned the political motivations behind discounting certain treatments and the drive for the holy grail of a completely new type of experimental mRNA vaccine to combat COVID. The new CDC numbers about pneumonia appear to open the door to many more questions.