If the British study showed the effectiveness of the treatment for patients with severe forms of the disease, it could still prove dangerous for less critical patients.
If the British study showed the effectiveness of the treatment for patients with a severe form of the disease, it could still prove dangerous for less critical patients.
This treatment is very promising. Dexamethasone is a drug that has been shown to be effective in severely ill patients with the Covid-19 virus and reduces mortality, according to British researchers. The WHO earlier this week called for increased production of dexamethasone.
“The next challenge is to increase production and distribute dexamethasone quickly and fairly around the world, focusing on the places where it is most needed,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference.
what is dexamethasone
dexamethasone is a treatment that is already known. It is a drug from the steroid family that is used in a number of indications due to its strong anti-inflammatory effect. It is also prescribed for cancer patients, on chemotherapy.
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According to the Vidal Reference Guide for Health Professionals, synthetic corticosteroids -including dexamethasone- reduce (high doses) the immune response. Its metabolic effect and sodium retention are less than those of hydrocortisone (…) It has been shown in ophthalmology that dexamethasone, a potent corticosteroid, can suppress inflammation by inhibiting edema, fibrin deposition, capillary leak, and the migratory phagocytic inflammatory response.”
on the other hand, it is a drug that is “cheap, and there are many producers of dexamethasone in the world,” says Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Who is it effective for?
Cheap and readily available, this steroid is currently the only drug that appears to improve survival in Covid-19 patients.
This, however, worries the most severely affected patients: those placed on artificial ventilation and, to a lesser extent, those receiving oxygen without intubation. In the first, dexamethasone reduces mortality by a third person, according to initial results from a large British recovery clinical trial.
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The WHO director-general emphasized that “dexamethasone should only be used for patients with Covid-19 in severe or critical condition, with close clinical follow-up.” “There is no evidence that this drug works in patients with a benign condition or as a preventative measure, and that it can cause harm,” he insisted.
Published on Monday, these results have yet to be published in a scientific journal. But after that, the British government announced that this treatment would be used immediately to treat the patients in question.
Dexamethasone is already used in many indications due to its strong anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects.
Why isn’t it miraculous?
It was the health authorities who warned throughout the crisis that anti-inflammatories are contraindicated for the treatment of suspicious symptoms of Covid-19. Among these drugs, such as ibuprofen, “it could be a factor in the worsening of the infection” in people suffering from the coronavirus, warned the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran.
Investigators of the British study on dexamethasone silenced the treatment, writes the New York Times. In fact, it could be dangerous for people with Covid-19, but in a less virulent way.
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“It is almost as if the disease is divided into two phases. The phase in which the virus dominates and the immune phase, where the damage is mainly caused by the immune system,” explains Dr. Martin J. Landray, lead author of the study and professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Oxford, as reported by the New York Times.
“This drug could harm some patients, and we’re not really sure what patients are worried about,” Dr. Samuel Brown, an assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, who was not involved in the study, told US Daily.
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therefore, dexamethasone would have very different effects depending on the stage of the disease in which it is administered to the patient. “At the beginning of the disease, the immune system is your friend,” explains Professor Landray. “It’s fighting a virus and mitigating it is not a good idea.”
Date Updated: June 27, 2020, 12:58 PM
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: newstars.edu.vn