To this day, doctors do not have at their disposal not only vaccines, but also proven effective agents for the treatment of COVID-19. Doctors are forced to use various methods to combat coronavirus. In Syktyvkar hospitals, dozens of patients recovered after applying hydrogen sulfide.
The head of the laboratory of the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Mikhail Evgenyev told the newspaper Novye Izvestia about the “well-forgotten” method. According to him, the “slow donor” of hydrogen sulfide – sodium thiosulfate – was discovered by Soviet scientists. Since the 1990s, they have been treated for pneumonia.
“We can say that this drug is just a well-forgotten old. And I believe that it will be very useful in the fight against COVID-19, ”said Evgeniev.
Clinical trials of sodium thiosulfate were carried out only to a limited extent. Now the professor and his colleagues are testing the drug and are seeking to be included in the list of drugs recommended by the Ministry of Health for the prevention and treatment of patients with coronavirus.
In his laboratory, Evgeniev has been studying the protective properties of H2S active sulfur for several years. The drug showed a strong effect in experiments with rodents, which artificially caused pneumonia. H2S is suitable for combating single-stranded RNA viruses, which include a new infection. In fact, this gas is poisonous, but at low concentrations it has anti-inflammatory properties.
So far, the drug has not passed licensing either in Russia or in the USA, and cannot be used in humans. However, in Russian medicine, for the treatment of certain intoxications, a completely safe, “slow” hydrogen sulfide donor — sodium thiosulfate (hyposulfite), approved by all inspections of the Ministry of Health, has long been used. They also treat patients of sanatoriums in hydrogen sulfide baths. For some diseases and cyanide poisoning, such a medicine is used even in large doses.
“Moreover, domestic doctors, it turns out, nevertheless apply inhalation or intravenous injection of sodium thiosulfate in acute and destructive pneumonia in adults and children. So far, these are mainly provincial clinics and former Soviet states, but the results that patients show are impressive, ”said Evgeniev.
In the initial stages, the proposed method should prevent the propagation of coronavirus. On more severe ones, it is possible that the drug will not allow pneumonia to develop and reduce the degree of lung damage, which is often inevitable with mechanical ventilation. The medicine is likely able to generally alleviate the course of the disease.
Dr. Onikienko from St. Petersburg included sodium thiosulfate in helium mixtures, which he used in Syktyvkar to treat patients with confirmed coronavirus infection. According to Evgeniev, the results exceeded all expectations.
“These inhalations render a very traumatic mechanical ventilation procedure unnecessary. Dr. Onikienko applied this method to dozens of patients with coronavirus infection, ”said the professor.
With home treatment, the proven effectiveness of sodium thiosulfate could be a salvation for many patients. Inhalation products are freely sold in pharmacies, as is a sterile 30% solution of sodium thiosulfate. A similar procedure was used by Dr. Onikienko at the Syktyvkar Republican Hospital. After treatment with sodium thiosulfate from 50 patients who were going to be transferred to artificial lung ventilation, this painful procedure was required only for one person. (However, rushing to the pharmacy and immediately self-medicating is certainly not worth it until the official confirmation of the effectiveness and safety of this drug!)
According to the newspaper, interest in Russian development has already been shown in the scientific community of the United States. Evgenyev’s article on the use of sodium thiosulfate in the treatment of patients with COVID-19 was put up for discussion and published in the American journal Cell Stress & Chaperones.
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