February 03, 2020
Xu Yu/Xinhua/Sipa USA
The photo shows a member of the medical staff wearing protective gear at a hospital in China where patients with coronavirus are being treated. Doctors in Thailand have given select patients with coronavirus by administering a mixture of anti-viral drugs commonly used to treat people with HIV and the flu. The say the mix of drugs has been successful.
Doctors in Thailand are treating some patients with the coronavirus by administering a mixture of anti-viral drugs, and they say they are having success.
Thai physicians gave three patients at Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok the three-drug mixture, the Bangkok Post reported. The cocktail of medications includes HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir – a combination known as as Kaletra – and the flu medication Tamiflu.
Each of the patients had tested positive for the coronavirus for 10 days. One patient had to immediately stop treatment after developing a rash. The two remaining patients showed improvement and tested negative for the virus within 48 hours.
The World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus to be a global health emergency. Thailand confirmed the first case of human-to-human transmission on Saturday. There are 19 confirmed cases of the virus in that country — 11 have been hospitalized and eight have returned home.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first human-to-human transmission of the virus in this country on Thursday. As on Monday afternoon, there are 11 confirm coronavirus cases in the United States.
The novel coronavirus — or 2019CoV — is a previously-unidentified respiratory virus that surfaced in of Wuhan, China. The virus originally spread from animal, but it is now contractable through human contact. Symptoms, which include fever, cough, and shortness of breath, can appear in two days to 14 days following exposure.
Follow Virginia & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @vastreva | @thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice
Add Virginia's RSS feed to your feed reader
Have a news tip? Let us know.
