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 hospital in Wuhan and alerted colleagues to the danger 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 recommended to prescribe corticosteroids (or corticoids) to patients. It could even do more damage than anything else. However, these steroid hormones are prescribed by doctors for pneumonia. Accompanied by antibiotics, they allow patients to recover faster 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 these two conditions caused inflammation of the lungs, corticosteroids have not been shown to be effective. Thus, a retrospective study of patients severely affected by MERS shows that half of the patients who received corticosteroids needed additional treatments (respiratory assistance, dialysis, etc.). In addition, steroids took longer to clear the virus. Regarding the SARS epidemic, the virus was still present for up to three weeks after infection in patients who took steroids.
Soon a clinical trial?
“During this epidemic of coronaviruses, clinicians are faced with difficult decisions on how to treat those infected. After carefully considering the available evidence, we recommend that steroids not be used to treat lung damage caused by this new virus. If used, they should be part of a clinical trial so that we can find out if they help patients or harm their health, ”says Dr. J. Kenneth Baillie, lead author and academic consultant. in intensive care at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland). However, with his team, they believe that corticosteroids can still be given to treat other conditions, such as asthma.
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