Global Health: Corona’s steroid therapy is a scientific breakthrough
By : Marwa Mahmoud
The World Health Organization (WHO) praised a “scientific breakthrough” after British researchers announced that a drug from the steroid family had proven effective in saving the lives of patients with Covid 19 suffering from the most serious symptoms.
Tedros Gebresos the WHO General Director said in a statement “This is the first proven treatment that reduces mortality among Covid-19 patients who breathe with oxygen tubes or artificial respirators”.
He added, “This is good news and I congratulate the British government, Oxford University, many hospitals and patients in the UK, who have contributed to this life-saving scientific breakthrough.”
Peter Hurby, Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases at Oxford University said “Dexamethasone is the first drug to show an improvement in survival in HIV patients and this is a very good result.”
Researchers led by a team from Oxford University tested the drug on more than 2,000 patients with Covid 19 with serious symptoms.
He added that “dexamethasone is inexpensive and sold without a prescription and can be used immediately to save lives around the world.”
Matt Hancock the British Health Minister, announced on Tuesday that Britain will start providing a dexamethasone stimulant for Covid-19 patients, stressing that his country started storing the widely available drug since the first indications of its efficacy appeared 3 months ago. “Given that we noticed the first indications of dexamethasone potential, we have been storing it since March,” he said.
“We now have 200,000 doses ready for use and we are working with the National Health Service to include the usual treatment for Covid-19 dexamethasone as of this afternoon,” he added.
