As far as we know, we were the first in the world to propose that the U-V at high altitude would be a protective disinfectant in the COVID Pandemic. Originally, in Dec 2017 on a paper on Longevity at high altitude(Se ref. 1, below). Then I wrote a newspaper article about it when the Pandemic started to arrive in Bolivia on April 5th, 2020(3). My daughter Natalia Zubieta-DeUrioste, M.D., and I teamed up with another Bolivian Jorge Soliz Ph.D. and Christian Arias from Laval University who postulated that the lower amount of ACE2 receptors in the lungs at high altitude could also be a protective factor at high altitude. We participated in the U-V section. The other coauthors of that paper were several Bolivian Ph.D. students and an Australian Ph.D. (4). Likewise, we wrote of multiple diseases in COVID-19 early on May 5, 2020 (5) currently under peer review. Furthermore, I created the term “Pneumolysis” to describe what happens in COVID-19 and presented it for the first time in the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CORONA VIRAL GENOME, in India (See the banner below). We feel proud to be able to contribute with our knowledge accumulated over 50 years of work at IPPA Just celebrated on July 9th, 2020, to this COVID Pandemic.
Below, is the evolution of this story.
Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja, M.D.
Our papers on COVID
- 1. Extended Longevity at High Altitude First mention of U-V radiation at high altitude with its Disinfectant property on Dec 26, 2017. Longevidad Extendida (Spanish)
- 2. Universidad Mayor de San Andres TVU Radio FM 97.6 interview by Jhony Villaroel (Short version with English subtitles) for the program Desarmado Discursivo (full version) on Jan 31, 2020
- 3. U_V radiation protection against CoVid-2 at high altitude. Newspaper article, Apr 5, 2020.
- 4. Does the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 virus decrease at high-altitude?, June, 2020
- 6. COVID-19: Multiple Diseases Simulating Extreme High-Altitude Exposure? Oxygen Transport Physiology and Scarce Need of Ventilators; Andean Condor’s-Eye-View, at ResearchGate or here May 5, 2020
- 6. Coping with hypoxemia: Could erythropoietin (EPO) be an adjuvant treatment of COVID-19? Aug 2020 and this paper is scientifically linked with two very important international papers: Erythropoietin as candidate for supportive treatment of severe COVID-19 and Does recombinant human erythropoietin administration in critically ill COVID‐19 patients have miraculous therapeutic effects?
- 7. Tolerance to Hypoxia (Published in 2013 in the Fiziol J in Kiev, Ukraine).
- 8. Decreased incidence, virus transmission capacity, and severity of COVID-19 at altitude on the American continent
- 9. El Coronavirus es fatal debido a la Neumólisis (9 de Julio, 2020)
- 10. El COVID-19 y las complicaciones pulmonares: Neumolisis y baja tolerancia a la hipoxia. Boletin Nacional de Bioetica # 3 Ago, 2020.
- 11. COVID-19 and Pneumolysis Simulating Extreme High-altitude Exposure with Altered Oxygen Transport Physiology; Multiple Diseases, and Scarce Need of Ventilators: Andean Condor’s-eye-view in Reviews on Recent Clinical Trials (2020) 15: 1
- 12. Pneumolysis and “silent hypoxemia” in COVID-19, under review.
- 13. COVID-19 patients in the high-altitude areas of Bolivia and Peru manifest a substantive decrease in mortality Oct 15, 2020. Submitted to High Altitude Medicine and Biology.
- 14. La quema de los bosques bolivianos afecta la calidad del aire y atenta contra la salud en estos tiempos de pandemia COVID_19. 13 de Oct, 2020.
- 15. La quema de los bosques bolivianos afecta la calidad del aire y atenta contra la Salud en estos tiempos de pandemia COVID-19. This is an article about PM effect on COVID-19. Oct 2020.
- 16. Chaqueos, COVID-19, Neumólisis y Forestalisis. Oct 23, 2020.
- 17. Pneumolysis and Silent Hypoxemia Nov, 9, 2020
- 18. Acute Mountain Sickness, High Altitude Pulmonary Edema and High Altitude Cerebral Edema, a view from the High Andes.
- 19. The Oxygen Transport Triad in High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema: A Perspective from the High Andes. June, 2021
- 20. Winners of the 1st award of the Science and Technology in the area of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Ministry of Health in La Paz, Bolivia based on our publications on lower COVID at high altitude.
- 21. Understanding the pathophysiology of typical acute respiratory distress syndrome and severe COVID-19. Expert Rev Respir Med. April 2022.
- 22. High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, High Altitude Cerebral Edema and Acute Mountain Sickness: an enhanced opinion from the High Andes, La Paz-Bolivia, Reviews on Environmental Health. May 2nd, 2022
Newspapers
- EFE America
- El diario España
- La Region Bolivia
- Financial times UK
- Daily Mail UK
- Pagina Siete Bolivia
- Fox News USA
- Miami Herald USA
- Erbol
- FoxNews
- Pagina Siete Bolivia
- El diario Bolivia Pneumolysis
- Sobre Neumolisis y el deporte. David Heredia, Periodista deportivo, Programa Record, Radio Monumental La Paz, Bolivia.
Conferences on line
- Incidencia mucho mas baja del COVID en la altura – Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja. Colegio Medico del Peru – Puno
- Entrevista TV latina.pe
- Entrevista por Anthony Guerra para FPP (Federación de Periodistas del Peru)
- Entrevista Bethel TV Peru.
- Conferencia internacional para Medicos Bolivianos On-Line. COVID 19 y altura: Incidencia, Neumolisis, Tolerancia a la hipoxia
- Conferencia Jorge Soliz, Antonio Viruez, Justo Zapata, Fernando Rivero y Luis Blacutt en la Universidad Mayor de San Andres UMSA, Facultad de Ciencias Puras y Naturales
- DARWIN 2020 Nov conference in India by Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja entitled Genetic Adaptation, Physiologic Adaptation, Intelligence and Biospaceforming
Movements in Biology
Look at 1 hour and 20 min where he presents his talk on Medical Ethics in Research explaining the Retraction
of his article: “Acute Mountain Sickness, High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, High Altitude Cerebral Edema: A view
from the High Andes” . A fascinating story that was beautifully explained by RETRACTION WATCH