b'flu deaths had a mode in the 2534 age group is also strongly indicative of a TB interaction; TB is a disease of adulthood, not of old age. The UC Berkeley demographers go on to say:The link between influenza and TB may include a third pathogen. Tuberculosis infection causes lung cavities to form, which become a breeding ground also for non-TB bacteria, in-cluding Staphylococcus aureus. This would have had the effect of priming tuberculous individuals for S. aureus superinfection in the event of co-infection with influenza.Now that current singular mind-set approach (one disease, one pathogen) to the current COVID-19 pandemic needs to be brought into question. We dont want to figure out this deadly infectious disease 100 years later like the UC Berkeley demogra-The above profile more aptly fits the epidemic now underwayphers did, we want to save lives today.in Italy where younger immigrants (age 18-44) are dying of whatSo, lets continue in our pursuit of a multi-factorial cause of the obviously is not COVID-19 but tuberculosis that was latent andcurrent pandemic.erupted due to low Vitamin-D blood levels from the cold winterWeknowtherearestillnotrademarkclinicalfeatures weather and the fact that these migrants were dark-skinned andofCOVID-19infection.Thatiswhydiagnosisissodifficult. dont synthesize Vitamin D in their skin as Caucasians do. COVID-19 tests are notoriously inaccurate. In fact, unreliable tests But in Italy we also have massive death among the very old.are used to confirm COVID-19 coronavirus.This is explained by age and health habits, with many 80+year- Confronting the COVID-19 infections is challenging and re-old Italians being drinkers and smokers, which destroy the im- quires excluding patients with suspected COVID-19 who actual-mune system. They had co-morbidities. ly have other, pre-existing diseases. Due to unreliable tests for Here is the chart showing the death rate of males in 1920, twoCOVID-19 and the need to rapidly diagnose and treat patients in years after the Spanish flu pandemic. rapid physical decline, symptomology is paramount in hospital diagnosis. There are two symptoms of interest that pertain to COVID-19:1st SymptomThe hallmark, but not universal, sign of COVID-19 are opac-ities in the lower lungs that appear like ground glass in a lung scan. These opacities represent fluid in the lung space which pre-vents oxygen from being transferred to hemoglobin in red blood cells, resulting in shortness of breath. Ground-glass opacities were reported in up to 86.1% of 101 COVID-19 coronavirus cases of pneumonia. Patients with exten-sive ground-glass opacity (greater than 50%) are more likely to experience a longer hospital stay and suffer acute respiratory fail-ure than those with less ground-glass opacity. So, demographers think TB and influenza interacted in 1918.Here are what ground-glass opacities look like in a lung scan Demographers think TB rendered it easier to contract the flu. In(inside red boxes).other words, there is a non-singular understanding of the 1918 pandemic.In the words of UC Berkeley demographers:We conjecture that many influenza deaths in 1918 took place among the tuberculouspersons with clinical disease or latent infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. That the 1918 influenza virus, known to be atypical, should interact pathologically with M. tuberculosis seems likelyExcess male flu mortality is con-sistent with the differential incidence of TB by sex. The fact that H ealtHF reedomN ews /s priNg2020 15HFN_SPRING-2020_4-29-2020-FINAL.indd 15 4/29/20 10:18 AM'