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Part I. Sars-Cov-2 Triggered 'Panic' Attack In Severe Covid-19, Elliot M. Frohman, Nicole R. Villemarette-Pittman, Esther Melamed, Roberto A. Cruz, Reid Longmuir, Thomas C. Varkey, Lawrence Steinman, Scott S. Zamvil, Teresa C. Frohman

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has produced a world-wide collapse of social and economic infrastructure, as well as constrained our freedom of movement. This respiratory tract infection is nefarious in how it targets the most distal and highly vulnerable aspect of the human bronchopulmonary tree, specifically, the delicate yet irreplaceable alveoli that are responsible for the loading of oxygen upon red cell hemoglobin for use by all of the body's tissues.

In most symptomatic individuals, the disease is a mild immune-mediated syndrome, with limited damage to the lung tissues. About 20% of those affected experience a disease course characterized …

Part Ii. High-Dose Methotrexate With Leucovorin Rescue For Severe Covid-19: An Immune Stabilization Strategy For Sars-Cov-2 Induced 'Panic' Attack, Elliot M. Frohman, Nicole R. Villemarette-Pittman, Roberto A. Cruz, Reid Longmuir, Vernon Rowe, Elizabeth S. Rowe, Thomas C. Varkey, Lawrence Steinman, Scott S. Zamvil, Teresa C. Frohman

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Here, in Part II of a duology on the characterization and potential treatment for COVID-19, we characterize the application of an innovative treatment regimen for the prevention of the transition from mild to severe COVID-19, as well as detail an intensive immunotherapy intervention hypothesis. We propose as a putative randomized controlled trial that high-dose methotrexate with leucovorin (HDMTX-LR) rescue can abolish 'PANIC', thereby 'left-shifting' severe COVID-19 patients to the group majority of those infected with SARS-CoV-2, who are designated as having mild, even asymptomatic, disease. HDMTX-LR is endowed with broadly pleiotropic properties and is a repurposed, generic, inexpensive, and widely …