In order to answer the question: What is the treatment or treatments to COVID-19? We must first need to understand the virus and its severity.
Contents
What Are Coronaviruses?
- Collection of many viruses predominantly located within animals.
- 7 Coronaviruses infect humans, with 3/7 causing serious health complications. Mainly being unable to breathe.
- From the 3 highly deadly virus types, one of them is what we know as COVID–19. The medical term for this virus is named as SARS–CoV–2.
- Less serious coronaviruses or rhinoviruses cause the common cold. This is highly common and not severe. The symptoms are mainly runny nose, congestion, slight fever, feeling lethargic.
- For COVID-19, symptoms are comparable to common cold symptoms.
- COVID-19 symptoms are much more severe for hospitalised patients. These hospitalised patients that are correctly diagnosed by the SARS-CoV-2 virus display difficulty in breathing, or no breathing.
The Good News:
For the majority of people with these COVID-19 symptoms, they can recover and thus be treated as though they have a bad cold.
Such as:
- Keeping hydrated with plenty of water, fluids.
- Cold and flu tablets (any will work, so supermarket branded tablets are identical to known brands)
- rest to combat lethargic sensation
Treatments For Hospitalised Patients Of COVID-19:
Patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19 need to be hospitalised.
The treatment given is to support patients to reduce their symptoms. Furthermore, it is directly focused to aid the patients’ own immune systems for their own bodies to fight off infection.
What is given to help with patients that show difficulty in breathing?
External oxygen supply. This can be done via either supplemental oxygen, mechanical ventilation (BiPAP) and if highly severe then it is advised to use conventional ventilators to “intubate and oxygenate” the patients.
However, these treatment guidelines by World Health Organisation( WHO) and National Institute of Health (NIH), are constantly updating and evolving to find the best solution to this global pandemic.
What Additional Factors Does A Patient’s Treatment Depend On?
- Underlying health conditions (such as diabetes and lung conditions such as TB,tuberculosis)
- NHS resources available at local hospitals
Are There Any Medications To Destroy SARS-CoV-2?
REMDESIVIR:
This is an anti–viral medication that interrupts the virus and its replication ability to prevent replication in a person’s body. Thus the virus can not spread throughout the body.
Recommended: for hospitalised patients (require oxygen) that are not being treated with mechanical ventilators.
Issue: Limited supply being produced by health institutions. The world is lacking in this supply.
DEXAMETHASONE, BECLOMETHASOME….
These are types of gluco–corticosteroid that modify an individual’s immune system in regards to how the immune system regulates itself.
Recommended: Can be used on all hospitalised patients (require oxygen).
Issue: Not given to patients that do not require oxygen as these drugs display side effects, unfortunately may worsen one’s condition.
Other Possible Treatments That Need Further Testing For Safety:
Blood plasma transfusion (Convalescent Plasma):
Process simplified: Blood plasma taken from a patient that has recovered from COVID-19 and injecting it to a hospitalised patient with SARS-CoV-2.
Recommended: To all hospitalised when more trials conducted, so not yet (dated October 2020)
Issue stated by NIH: More trials and evidence are required to identify that convalescent plasma therapy does in fact combat the disease or in fact might worsen seriously infected patients with SARS-CoV-2.
NIH= National Institute Of Health
CHLOROQUINE, HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE:
AVOID THESE DRUGS!
Issue stated by NIH: Initial trials for these drugs displayed no benefit, outcomes of patients worsened their condition of this disease, SARS-CoV-2. Main reasoning, is the very harmful side effects that are life threatening.
If You Have Symptoms:
Visit the NHS official website for symptom enquiry and MEDICAL ADVICE
GET A CORONAVIRUS TEST: It is only for quantitative measure and for your safety. Personally, these tests detect within the upper respiratory, the nasopharyngeal airway. However the disease is lower respiratory, effecting the lungs. However, for identifying if there are any viral detection then it is a must.
The information provided within this post is accurate with credible and reputable sources. However, it is not advice. Only take advice from your local hospital, GP, NHS website.
Wear face masks and wash your hands and face. Keep 1m distance between others around you.
Don’t forget to comment below and share this blog (below icons if on mobile or on the side if on the laptop) to friends and family, it will be greatly appreciated by me and your loved ones. Stay Safe!
ADDITIONAL SOURCES and Recommended Products:
For the latest symptom information on NHS: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/
NHS COVID-19:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
NHS 111 online coronavirus service:
Chloroquine:
DEXAMETHASONE:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53077879
REMDESIVIR:
Beigel, J. H., Tomashek, K. M., Dodd, L. E., Mehta, A. K., Zingman, B. S., Kalil, A. C., Hohmann, E., Chu, H. Y., Luetkemeyer, A., Kline, S., Lopez de Castilla, D., Finberg, R. W., Dierberg, K., Tapson, V., Hsieh, L., Patterson, T. F., Paredes, R., Sweeney, D. A., Short, W. R., Touloumi, G., … ACTT-1 Study Group Members (2020). Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19 – Final Report. The New England journal of medicine, NEJMoa2007764. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2007764
Blood Plasma Transfusion:
BMJ 2020;370:m3516
BMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3516 (Published 15 September 2020)
Blood Plasma Transfusion Ineffective:
BMJ 2020;371:m4072
BMJ 2020; 371 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4072 (Published 22 October 2020)
Mechanical ventilation (BiPAP):
Carter, C., Aedy, H., & Notter, J. (2020). COVID-19 disease: Non-Invasive Ventilation and high frequency nasal oxygenation. Clinics in Integrated Care, 1, 100006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intcar.2020.100006
Conventional ventilators to “intubate and oxygenate” the patients:
BMJ 2020;369:m1828
BMJ 2020; 369 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1828 (Published 12 May 2020)
World Health Organisation( WHO):
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen
National Institute of Health (NIH):