What do the Ebola, HIV, and Zika viruses have in common with all thirty trillion cells in the human body? Selenium. Most viruses, at least all enveloped viruses contain and require selenium for their formation. The HIV Env envelope gene encodes a selenium protein. Thus, HIV and other enveloped viruses cannot be produced without selenium molecules. Where do viruses obtain their selenium? They acquire it by “stealing” it from human cells. As a result, they make cells sick and that makes people sick.             Selenium molecules constitute the active site of glutathione peroxidase, GPx, the universal antioxidant that helps keep every cell in the body clean, healthy and detoxified. That makes selenium nature’s strongest antioxidant. That also makes it an anti-inflammatory. While selenium is in every human and animal cell, also playing a structural role; this essent...

        A Historic Review of Howard Armistead's Research,  from Most to Least Significant                 The following is a list of Howard Armistead’s scientific insights and contributions to health research. It proceeds from the most to the least significant and mentions a few of the over fifty-seven AIDS and virology conferences he has attended in eighteen countries between 1991 and 2021. Since 1990 Mr. Armistead has primarily attempted to improve the understanding of the cause, pathogenesis, and the effects of pandemic viral diseases including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, SARS-1 and -2, and H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza. He is currently writing essays on uterine fibroids and on sickle cell anemia. Armistead writes medical essays that translate complex medical science into understandable language. He does not author medical journal articles. His essays can be found on his weblog CloserToaCure.com an...

Dear General Dr. Friedrichs, Chair of Presidential Office for Pandemic Preparedness             When faced with a deadly military attack on their country, what general ever thought, “OK, those invaders are killing our people, but in two years maybe we will develop a super anti-protease bomb that will save our lives. It will take a while, but I’m sure, sooner or later our scientists will come up with something like that. Meanwhile thousands will have to die since we currently have no effective early defenses.” That is precisely what happened with therapeutics in the NIH effort against Covid-19. The White House OPPR should stop ignoring long existing but seldom publicly referenced antiviral science. Volumes have been written in the medical literature about selenium’s benefits against a variety of viral diseases. Numerous other almost obvious broad-spectrum antiviral drugs are also hiding in plain sight. Those are not chloroquine or ...