Researchers think a common drug can block the coronavirus from infecting cells

[Chris Smith]

• A coronavirus cure or preventive vaccines might not be available right now, but promising drugs are already being tested. On top of that, doctors already have several new protocols to improve COVID-19 management in severe cases.
• Plenty of patients still die of COVID-19 complications, and death rates can’t go down significantly without access to better treatment.
• Researchers think they’ve discovered that a common drug that’s already used in several diseases may have an unexpected property: It can bind to the spike protein of the virus just like antibodies, and prevent it from infecting cells.

People who dismiss the danger of COVID-19 don’t realize that the real problem with the virus isn’t that it kills a large number of those infected. It's that it doesn’t always respect patterns. It’s not just the elderly who are more likely to be infected and die. There are plenty of exceptions with young people who have died after contracting the illness. Those who claim COVID-19 is just another form of flu might not be aware that the new coronavirus may have side-effects that can be felt for months after the initial bout. Also, the novel coronavirus can infect everyone inside a population, whereas the flu doesn’t have the same power.

To put it differently, the COVID-19 problem is so serious because we do not have an effective treatment that would work right away. If that were the case, COVID-19 would be a lot more manageable. Fewer people would die, and those infected might recover faster. Scientists are already studying several promising vaccines and new drugs that can prevent the infection and cure the disease. But a different team thinks a common medication that we have right now has the potential of blocking the virus once it enters the body.

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Researchers think a common drug can block the coronavirus from infecting cells originally appeared on BGR.com on Fri, 17 Jul 2020 at 17:18:02 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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