Doctors have been prescribing handful of drugs while attempting to treat patients with Covid-19. We summarise based on current working evidence from around the world, what scientists say works and does not, from among the treatments currently in use in India.
Here’s the list of drugs used by India in its fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
Azithromycin: This is the most widely prescribed and misused antibiotic in this pandemic. Azithromycin, as with all other antibiotics, does not work in viral infections. Antibiotics are only administered in patients who have evidence of a secondary bacterial infection as some hospitalised patients will have in the later stages of their COVID infection. Indiscriminate use (as seen before the pandemic) in the hope that they will prevent bacterial infection only aggravates antibiotic resistance, to which India is a frequent contributor.
Blood Thinners: Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals have been observed to have a very high incidence of blood clots. There is current global consensus that all hospitalised Covid-19 patients will benefit from blood thinners injected daily just under their skin (like insulin injections). Though there is some empirical evidence and reasoning, randomised controlled trials are stiil awaited totally confirm their role.
BCG vaccines: While the world eagerly awaits a new and SARS-CoV-2-specific vaccine, the use of existing vaccines (BCG, Polio, MMR vaccines) in the hope they will work is inappropriate and misleading. Trials are under way to see if they will boost innate immunity. We know that BCG has already been given at birth to all Indians, and it has not reduce case load in any manner so far.
Vitamin C: More vitamin C may have been consumed than oranges since Covid-19 began! It doesn’t work.
Vitamin D: A large meta-analysis just released shows that Vitamin D does not protect against Covid-19.
Evidence generated from rigorously vetted clinical trials, the distribution of these substances must be condemned. Pushing unproven and supposedly harmless “treatments” and distributing them to hundreds of thousands is not only dangerous but also provides people false hope, and risks them lowering their guard against the infection. There are no magic pills to boost immunity to fix years of malnutrition, stunting, obesity, and chronically inflamed lungs.
Oseltamivir: This is an antiviral agent prescribed for tempering symptoms from the virus that causes influenza. It has no role in treating Covid-19 infection which is caused by a coronavirus.
PNN/Agencies