While some steroids are prescribed by doctors to help treat pneumonia, researchers advise against doing so on patients with the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). According to them, it might even do more harm than good.
More than 31,000 people affected worldwide, 28 countries affected by the epidemic and 639 people died, mainly in China. Here is the latest assessment of the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV), published this Friday, February 7. Doctor Li Wenliang, who worked in a Wuhan hospital and warned his colleagues about the dangerousness of the virus, died last night. He was diagnosed with coronavirus on January 30. A group of experts has just published an article in the journal The Lancet. According to them, it is not advisable to prescribe corticosteroids (or corticosteroids) to patients. It might even do more damage than anything else. However, these steroid hormones are prescribed by doctors in case of pneumonia. Accompanied by antibiotics, they allow patients to recover more quickly from this inflammation.
Similar cases in the past
To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed two pathologies linked to a coronavirus: SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome, detected in China in 2002), and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome, detected in 2012 in Saudi Arabia) . Although both diseases caused inflammation of the lungs, corticosteroids were not effective. Thus, a retrospective study of patients seriously affected by MERS shows that half of the patients who received corticosteroids needed additional treatments (respiratory assistance, dialysis, etc.). Also, the steroids took longer to clear the virus. Regarding the SARS epidemic, the virus was still present up to three weeks after infection in patients who took steroids.
Soon a clinical trial?
“During this coronavirus outbreak, clinicians are faced with difficult decisions about how to treat infected people. After carefully reviewing the available evidence, we recommend that steroids not be used for the treatment of lung damage caused by this new virus. If they are used, they should be part of a clinical trial so that we can find out if they help patients or harm their health,” concludes Dr. J. Kenneth Baillie, lead author of the article and academic consultant. in intensive care at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland). However, with his team, they believe that corticosteroids can still be administered to treat other pathologies, such as asthma.
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