Nearly 2.5 million people are affected by Covid-19, but the global medical fraternity has failed to chalk out a confirmed line of treatment hitherto.
Typically, repurposed medicines with standard medical care are provided to treat infected patients. However, this does not work on all the patients especially those with comorbidities.
Among all the plausible medications is the HIV drugs that are speculated to be a hidden cure for coronavirus patients.
While many medical trials are going on, herein, the post will focus on the plausibility of HIV drugs as the potential Coronavirus treatment.
How effective are HIV drugs against coronavirus?
While there is no cure for AIDS, many HIV-infected patients are put on antiretroviral regimens (ARVs) to slow down the progress of the infection and prevent further health complications.
So far, health outcomes are encouraging for infected HIV patients. However, the timely diagnosis of the disease makes a considerable difference in improving the survival rate. You can always consider buying an ELISA kit online to determine the onset of the viral infection.
Taking a leaf from the same, the combination of drugs (Ritonavir/lopinavir) has been recommended for a human trial involving 199 patients by a team of doctors in Wuhan. After being prescribed the two tablets of the lopinavir/ritonavir, no notable health difference was seen as per the NEJM report on 15 March.
However, the researchers claim that the selected patients were critically ill which explains the negative results. Typically, the drugs are safe, but may severely affect patients with other chronic illnesses such as liver diseases.
If not HIV Drugs, then what?
Scientists across the world are digging their heels to repurpose treatments to cure this respiratory illness or create some vaccine to prevent it in the first place.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is working on multiple lines of treatment including
- HIV drugs using Ritonavir and lopinavir ( already discussed)
- Malaria drugs using chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine
- Antiviral against Ebola using Remdesivir
- Antibodies extracted from the surviving patients
Will Malaria Drugs Be The Game-Changer?
Hailed by none other than US President Donald Trump as the game-changer, malaria drugs – Chloroquine, and hydroxychloroquine – came under the deep scrutiny of many US researchers and the medical community at large.
It’s claimed the drugs tend to control the immune system and hence destroy infection as severe as the Covid19.
However, scanty scientific evidence leaves health care professionals with little hope of any cure in the drugs.
Citing the same, Margaret Hamburg, FDA commissioner who served during the H1N1, Zika, and Ebola crisis, said: “I understand the desire to find hope, but we need more evidence than is currently available before we encourage widespread use”.
Also, the widespread use of the drugs may hinder the path to collect data that holds value for credible clinical trials in the near future. Yet the drugs are an integral part of the various global trials worldwide.
Ebola Drug Holds The Cure?
The world hasn’t forgotten the fear and panic spread by the Ebola infection. A prominent drug used to fight off this disease Remdesivir has been used in many patients.
Preliminary clinical results show the drug has a positive effect on reducing the symptoms of coronavirus such as high fever and respiratory illness. However, it is too early for the FDA to give its affirmative nod to the antiviral drug.
Speaking on the recent development, Paul Goepfert, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said, “It’s still a promising drug, but [the NEJM study] doesn’t definitively prove anything”.
Do I need Covid-19 Treatment?
Coronavirus is an enigma for the medical community. Many affected patients have shown flu-like symptoms but a significant proportion remains asymptomatic that raise a concern on how to contain the pandemic.
If you suspect any such infection, speak to a doctor and take the best course of treatment for yourself. While clinical trials are on to combat this invisible enemy, the world is looking at the medical fraternity to find some cure or vaccine to tide over the Covid-19 outbreak.
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