What is this drug?
Dexamethasone is a synthetic glucocorticosteroid that has
How do steroids generally work?
Steroids such as dexamethasone haveproperty to significantly reduce inflammation. They inhibit the activity of various tissue-destructive enzymes - proteases and nucleases, matrix metalloproteinases, hyaluronidase and others. In addition, they inhibit the synthesis of inflammatory mediators. They also reduce the permeability of tissue barriers and vascular walls, inhibit the migration of leukocytes to the site of inflammation and the formation of free radicals, as well as many other processes that play a role in causing inflammation in the body.
What Happens to Immunity in Coronavirus? Why suppress it with steroids?
</b>Researchers are increasingly thinking about the fact thatThis is what leads to death from coronavirus. The virus itself or the immune system of the infected patient is to blame. Scientists believe that some patients with severe cases of COVID-19 experience too high levels of inflammation. This is part of an overactive immune response to infection. Elevated levels of cytokines in the blood were found in patients with severe symptoms. These are proteins and peptides that are produced by cells of the immune system. One of their functions is participation in inflammatory processes. The protein interleukin-6, one of the cytokines, stimulates the work of macrophages. These are the very cells that capture and neutralize substances that are foreign and toxic to the body. Macrophages trigger active inflammatory processes and can damage healthy lung cells.
Treatment aimed specifically at relieving an acute inflammatory process in the body is gaining more and more popularity.
How will steroids help with coronavirus?
One of the methods for treating acute inflammationfor COVID-19 - the use of steroids. Due to their effect on lymphocytes, they slow down the activity of the immune system. Treatment with an anti-inflammatory drug such as dexamethasone may help relieve the symptoms of coronavirus-infected patients with severe symptoms.
How was dexamethasone used and tested?
The dexamethasone trial was conducted by the teamresearchers at Oxford University. The results clearly showed that the drug reduces mortality among patients with a new coronavirus infection. The study was conducted in British hospitals among patients with severe COVID-19. The participants in the experiment had problems with difficulty breathing: they were either on a ventilator or wearing an oxygen mask.
Unlike studying the effect on SARS-CoV-2drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir, data on dexamethasone therapy were obtained from a randomized controlled clinical trial. The team gave the drug to 2,104 patients and compared them with 4,321 patients who were treated without it. According to published data, patients who were connected to oxygen and treated with dexamethasone survived more often than those who did not receive the drug.
“Dexamethasone is the first drug to improve survival in COVID-19. Survival is clear and long in those patients who are sick enough to require oxygen treatment."
Peter Herby, Professor at Oxford University
Will dexamethasone save you from coronavirus infection? Should I run to the pharmacy right now? Who should take it?
People should not take this drug totry to prevent COVID-19. If you don't have an acute inflammatory response, you will only suppress the immune system. And when a meeting with the coronavirus becomes inevitable, you will be defenseless. Such amateur activities can only complicate the fight against the virus. Researchers believe the drug helps when the disease becomes severe enough that the inflammation is more dangerous than the virus itself.
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