Antivirals that can kill the corona virus
ANTIVIRALS that can kill the corona virus
For this pandemic there’s a greater chance of survival for those getting infected 3 months later like June 2020 than those who got infected 3 months earlier say February 2020. The reason for this is that Doctors and scientists know more about Covid-19 now than 3 months ago and hence are able to treat patients better. I will list 5 important things that we all know now that we didn’t know in February 2020 for your understanding.
1. COVID-19 was initially thought to cause deaths due to pneumonia- a lung infection- and so Ventilators were thought to be the best way to treat sick patients who couldn’t breathe. Now we are realising that the virus 🦠 causes blood clots in the blood vessels of the lungs and other parts of the body and this causes reduced oxygenation. Now we know that just providing oxygen by ventilators will not help but we have to prevent and dissolve the micro clots in the lungs. This is why we are using drugs like *Asprin and Heparin ( blood thinners that prevent clotting) as the protocol in treatment regimens in June 2020. *
2. Previously patients wont to kick the bucket on the road or maybe before reaching a hospital thanks to reduced oxygen in their blood- OXYGEN SATURATION. This was because of HAPPY HYPOXIA- where even though the oxygen saturation was gradually reducing the COVID-19 patients did not have symptoms until it became critically less, like sometimes even 70%. *Normally we become breathless if oxygen saturation reduces below 90%. **This breathlessness is not triggered in Covid patients and so we we’re getting the sick patients very late to the hospitals in February 2020. Now since knowing about happy hypoxia we are monitoring oxygen saturation of all covid patients *with an easy home use pulse oxymeter and getting them to hospital if their oxygen saturation drops to 93% or less. This gives longer for doctors to correct the oxygen deficiency within the blood and a far better survival chance in June 2020.
3. We did not have drugs to fight the coronavirus 🦠 in February 2020. We were only treating the complications caused by it... hypoxia. Hence most patients became severely infected.
**Now we have 2 important medicines
FAVIPIRAVIR & REMDESIVIR**
Which are ANTIVIRALS that can kill the coronavirus 🦠? By using these two medicines we will prevent patients from becoming severely infected and thus cure them BEFORE they are going TO HYPOXIA. This knowledge we have in JUNE 2020... not in February 2020.
4. Many Covid-19 patients die not just because of the virus 🦠 but also due to the patients' own immune system responding In an exaggerated manner called CYTOKINE STORM. This stormy strong 💪 immune reaction not only kills the virus 🦠 but also kills the patients. In February 2020 we didn’t know how to prevent it from happening. Now in June 2020, we all know that easily available medicines called Steroids, that doctors round the world are using for nearly 80 years are often wont to prevent the cytokine storm in some patients.
5. Now we also know that folks with hypoxia became better just by making them lie on their belly- referred to as prone position. Apart from this a few days ago Israeli scientists have discovered that a chemical known as Alpha Defensin produced by the patients White blood cells can cause the micro clots in blood vessels of the lungs and this could possibly be prevented by a drug called Colchicine used over many decades in the treatment of Gout.
So now we all know needless to say that patients have a far better chance at surviving the COVID-19 infection now in June 2020 than in February 2020 needless to say.
Going forward there’s nothing to panic about Covid-19 if we remember that an individual who gets infected later features a better chance at survival than one who got infected early.
Let’s continue to follow precautions, but let us not be unreasonably paranoid.
