Researchers found promising new coronavirus drugs that stop people from dying

[Chris Smith]

• The novel coronavirus doesn’t have a cure, but there are plenty of therapies that have shown great promise in clinical trials.
• Researchers analyzed trials of common steroid drugs like dexamethasone and concluded that this class of drugs can cut COVID-19 death rates by 20%.
• These widely available steroids seem to work regardless of the age or sex of the patient, and regardless of whether mechanical ventilation was used prior to the administration of the drugs.
• The research is promising, but steroids aren’t an ideal cure and they aren’t enough to beat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several factors make the novel coronavirus pandemic so scary. The virus spreads with ease and it will infect anybody who gets in its way, regardless of sex, age, or location. The virus is just as powerful in the winter and in the summer. The incubation period can last up to two weeks, and people can be contagious before the onset of symptoms. Some never develop symptoms at all, but they can still spread the illness. Finally, the condition of some COVID-19 patients can deteriorate rapidly, and the ensuing complications can lead to death.

There are ways to mitigate all these factors and beat the pandemic, but the world is nowhere near close to that victory. Safety measures that include social distancing, face masks, and frequent hand washing can help reduce the spread of the virus. Ample testing campaigns and contact tracing can help health officials catch and isolate infected people who might not even realize they have the virus. But we still lack the kind of treatment that would deal with the most troubling aspect of the illness, the risk of death. The first days of September bring good news on that front though, as researchers are now confident that they found a class of drugs that can significantly cut the death rates among critically ill COVID-19 patients. The drugs won’t save everyone who gets a severe case of COVID-19, but they could be a breakthrough that ends up saving many lives.

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Researchers found promising new coronavirus drugs that stop people from dying originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 2 Sep 2020 at 15:26:39 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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