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GEORGE TOWN: A team of medical experts has been spending endless hours conducting tests to find the right drugs to treat patients affected by Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus that has claimed many lives and devastated economies in the whole country. world since January.
Penang Hospital infectious disease consultant Dr. Chow Ting Soo (pictured), who leads the team of 16 doctors and pharmacists, said they were collecting data and comparing the safety and efficacy of four treatment protocols using different combinations of remdesivir, lopinavir / ritonavir, and interferon beta, chloroquine, and hydroxychloroquine. The team effort is a research initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) within the framework of the Solidarity Trial.
In April, the Ministry of Health and the WHO announced that Malaysia had been selected to participate in the global trial to test drugs to treat Covid-19.
“It is still too early to conclude which of the treatments is effective.
“So far there is no antiviral or proven drug for Covid-19.
“Previous treatment using repurposed drugs such as hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir / ritonavir had been shown to be ineffective in treating the disease,” he said.
In an interview with The Star, Dr. Chow said that the main findings from all the studies consistently showed that the elderly, patients with underlying chronic medical conditions, and obesity were at risk of developing severe Covid-19 that required unit care. intensive care (ICU). .
He said more studies are needed to obtain a severity score and adequate follow-up to help reduce mortality among Covid-19 patients.
Judging by the recent scale of spread of the Sivagangga and Ulu Tiram groups, Malaysia has managed to isolate the virus with the D614G mutation.
(Sivagangga’s group started with a restaurant owner in Kedah who had visited the city in India, while Ulu Tiram’s group involved a religious center in Johor.) But some researchers in San Diego have reported that it has the potential to increase the number of coronavirus proteins and thus increase the ability to infect human cells by a factor of 10.
“Those patients who had recovered from the previous Covid-19 may not have the immunity to surround this strain and may become infected again.
“It is still too early to come to a conclusion on whether reinfection will lead to a more severe course of the disease. In other words, this mutation can reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, ”explained Dr. Chow.
He said his local cohort had found that transmission of the disease was likely to occur a few days before and after the onset of symptoms.
“More research is needed to understand whether an asymptomatic person can transmit the disease.”
He said airborne transmission could occur in healthcare settings where specific medical procedures could generate tiny droplets called aerosols.
“Some reports of outbreaks related to confined spaces with crowded people may be due to the transmission of aerosols,” he said.
Dr. Chow said the newly recruited participants needed training and needed to have strong communication skills.
“In the process of data collection and procedures to deal with research products, everything must be thorough and complete because a single mistake will create a great catastrophe in the result of the study.
“Therefore, when conducting clinical trials, investigators should be given protected time and full concentration should be applied when approaching the study,” he said.
Dr. Chow also said that in this era of pandemic, the virus would be here to stay as there was not yet an effective vaccination program.
To help break the chain of transmission, he reiterated the importance of everyone adhering to the new rules of avoiding confined or cluttered spaces, having a short conversation and wearing face masks and hand sanitizers.
“We must all go back to the old school of infection prevention and control. Stay away when you are sick, wear a mask, especially when you are sick, and practice good hand hygiene, ”he said.
On the availability of the vaccine for Covid-19, Dr. Chow admitted that it was not easy after the appearance of the D614G mutation.
“One must refrain from promoting the application of any agent to patients based on intuition, and all pharmacological agents must be evidence-based and safe for consumption,” he added.
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