Cheap steroids can save lives of critically-ill coronavirus patients, studies show
Steroids calm down inflammation and the immune system, which is why they are already used in conditions like arthritis and asthma, as well as in some severe infections.
The drugs are not thought to be helpful in the early stages of a coronavirus infection - when symptoms include a cough, fever or a sudden loss of taste or smell. But as the disease develops, the immune system can go into overdrive, damaging the lungs and other organs."At the point at which you reach for an oxygen cylinder for a patient with Covid, you probably should be reaching for the prescription for corticosteroids," said Prof Martin Landray, from the University of Oxford.
"These results are instantly useable; they are widely available, cheap, well-understood drugs that reduce mortality." Doctors are already using dexamethasone after the results earlier in the year, but the hope is that having the choice of different drugs will increase access to the treatment around the world.The research so far has focused on low doses of steroids. There is no evidence that higher doses would be more effective.
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