Thai doctors have found a combination of medications that has proven successful in treating patients with severe cases of the new coronavirus.
According to CNA, the doctors combined flu medicine and HIV medicine which helped an infected patient recover within 48 hours of applying the treatment.
This happened in Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok where a 70-year-old woman from Wuhan and several other infected patients were undergoing treatment.
Source: The Asian Age
The woman had been infected by the virus for about 10 days and was administered the drug treatment which includes a mixture of anti-HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir, in combination with flu drug oseltamivir in large doses.
After being given the medicines, the woman tested negative for the virus within 48 hours!
“This is not the cure, but the patient’s condition has vastly improved. From testing positive for 10 days under our care, after applying this combination of medicine the test result became negative within 48 hours,” Dr Kriangska Atipornwanich, a lung specialist at Rajavithi, said.
“The outlook is good but we still have to do more study to determine that this can be a standard treatment.”
Source: NY Post
Meanwhile, Chinese health officials have already been using HIV and flu drugs to treat coronavirus patients. The use of the three together in a cocktail seemed to improve the treatment, the Thai doctors said.
Another doctor said that a similar treatment in two other patients had a different reaction where one turned out allergic to the treatment while the other showed improvement.
“We have been following international practices, but the doctor increased the dosage of one of the drugs,” said Somsak Akkslim, director-general of the Medical Services Department, referring to the flu medicine Oseltamivir.
“The health ministry will meet on Monday to discuss the successful treatment in the case of the 70-year-old but it is still too soon to say that this approach can be applied to all cases.”
“Initially we will apply this approach only to severe cases.”A
A cure for the virus has not been found yet, but thankfully we have doctors who are able to find ways to treat infected patients!
Also read: China Announces First Recovery Of Wuhan Virus Patient, Cure Said To Be In HIV Drugs
