‘고령•중증에 에이즈치료제 권장’…코로나19 치료원칙 나왔다
South Korea has unveiled a set of treatment guidelines for COVID-19.
It consists of administering an anti-HIV medication twice a day.
This is the nation’s first treatment protocol for those who show severe symptoms.
Kim Jae-hee has our top story.
Infectious disease experts in South Korea have agreed to the use of antiviral drugs in the treatment of severe coronavirus cases, senior patients, and those with underlying diseases.
On the other hand, it was concluded that young patients, or those with mild symptoms, seemed to have improved after 10 days and without any antiviral treatment.
“Young and healthy people have mostly shown improvement without any special treatment. But older patients or those with underlying diseases are in need of the medication from an early stage.”
Expert says differences in treatment depending on a patient’s age is actually quite normal.
“Most viral infections tend to heal even without any treatment… thanks to our body’s immune system. But old age in itself can raise risks,… and many senior patients have underlying diseases, so it’s recommended that they undergo antiviral treatment.”
The government’s guidelines recommend Kaletra, an anti-retroviral medication used to treat AIDS for a duration of 7 to 10 days.
Chloroquine or Hydroxychloroquine, a medication used to prevent and treat Malaria can be used as an alternative.
But experts says, while the government’s announcement may sound promising, it might not make much of a difference to current treatment methods.
“There won’t be a significant difference in the treatment methods. It’s an antiviral drug that we are already using, and its effectiveness has not been fully proven. It’s still just a recommendation.”
But the expert is optimistic, saying that the recurrence rate of the novel coronavirus is low.
“It seems unlikely that a recovered patient will catch the virus again. In fact, there are very few reports of patients being re-infected when they’ve recovered from other coronavirus diseases such as SARS and MERS.”
He added that all seven of the patients who have made full recoveries in South Korea had no serious underlying diseases, and are unlikely to be re-infected.
Kim Jae-hee, Arirang News.
#Wuhan #coronavirus #drugs
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