In the last 24 hours, two new pieces of evidence have surfaced supporting Dr Harch’s original proposal of 3/3/2020 to consider HBOT for the treatment of coronavirus infection. (Update 3/17/2020)
Today, the publication of a retrospective analysis of lung CT scans on 121 patients infected with coronavirus in four Chinese provinces was announced. The CT scans showed progressive air space disease that radiologically depicted the diffusion barrier to oxygen that Dr. Harch suggested was similar to the lung pathology in Spanish Flu victims of 1918.
Simultaneously, Dr. Harch’s research assistant found evidence of successful treatment of a severe case of coronavirus infection in Wuhan, China. The patient was treated through the critical period with a similar number of daily hyperbaric treatments that Dr. Orval Cunningham used on his Spanish Flu cases in 1918. This Chinese patient managed to successfully traverse the critically ill period and was no longer in jeopardy.
This successful treatment, however, is a double-edged sword. Infection transmission is facilitated in hyperbaric chamber environments. Look no further than saturation diving conditions, where strict sanitation and infection control measures are industry standards. Coronavirus-infected patients should only be treated by medical professionals who are trained, experienced, and equipped to provide HBOT treatment under strict infection mitigated conditions.
Beware of clinics and opportunists advertising to “boost immunity” or treat coronavirus patients in portable chambers or other chambers in freestanding centers without qualified healthcare professionals trained, experienced and equipped to practice with strict infection control. This type of opportunism has beset the hyperbaric medicine field for centuries. Opportunists like this are responsible for the disparagement of hyperbaric therapy that has overshadowed the science and clinical wonder of this therapy. Hyperbaric clinics that are not equipped to treat coronavirus will act as vectors to amplify disease dissemination. Beware.
Read the full article about treating COVID-19 with HBOT here.