USCOM 1A and Corona Virus

Hi all,
As an USCOM shareholder and knowing something of the USCOM 1A device and itsuse in practice, I have just spent the last week or so in researching how thedevice might aid the fight against the spread of the Corona Virus. I thoughtyou all might like to share the core of what I found (without getting tootechnical <grin>.

The USCOM1A was fast tracked into China, some years ago, to aid in their program tocontrol another Corona Virus, the SARS virus.

Why isit important and what does it do?

The USCOM1A is a non-invasive, ultrasonic measuring device, that is applied to the skinsurface, sort of like a doctor uses a stethoscope. The device is able to quantifyand translate into a data structure the ongoing struggle the body has in copingwith any virus infection. There are not many non-invasive devices that can dothis.

A major primaryuse of the device is in triage, which is the sorting of incoming patients andallocating treatment on the basis of need. It is not hard to imagine thestressful situation that exists in the admittance wards of an isolationhospital and how important any device is that that can measure the importantparameters of life and how they are being affected by any infection.

A secondprimary use is in monitoring a patient’s response in real time to the ongoing progressof any treatment used to control Corona Virus infection in an individualpatient.

In an idealworld the 1A also has a role to play in providing a massive data bank ofmeasurements on the full range of individuals tested. This becomes a treasure trove for researching all aspects of virus activity and such things as genetic and resistance correlations.

The 1A hasbeen used in China Intensive Care units since 2004. Fortunately, there is a coreof trained experienced operators that will have been drafted into addressingthe need of a rapid expansion of services.

It shouldbe obvious that the USCOM staff in both China and Australia are fairlystretched at this time and are hampered by quarantine and movement issues.

It isfortunate indeed that USCOM already have a resident established Chinese businessstructure staffed by very competent people who are doing their best to bringorder to some very complex supply pressures.

For thoseof you who want to get the real flavor of the extent of this emergency thefollowing is a link to a press conference given a week ago. The transcript isquite long but illustrates graphically the true complexity of the situation.This saga has quite some way to run.

http://outbreaknewstoday.com/china-novel-coronavirus-national-health-commission-press-conference-transcript-27680/