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Trump’s drug cocktail alarms experts
While Donald Trump’s medical team paints an optimistic picture, experts are concerned. The massive treatment of the president of the United States indicates a serious illness of Covid 19.
Donald Trump’s doctors appeared twice in front of the media over the weekend. The president is doing “very well,” his “personal physician” Sean Conley said Saturday. One is very satisfied with the deal. The tone was more moderate on Sunday. However, doctors expressed hope that Trump could get out of Walter Reed Military Hospital on Monday.
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With the short ride to his fans waiting in front of the Bethesda hospital, the president tried to give an impression of normalcy. However, numerous experts interviewed by the US media were skeptical of being concerned about the (little) information circulating about Trump’s health.
Crown patient say hi here
For example, the fact that the medical team did not want to provide accurate information on Trump’s lung function drew criticism. The question of whether clots had formed in their blood, a complication that often occurs in Covid 19 patients, also remained unanswered. “I have the impression that everyone is giving us good news and limiting everything that is not perfect,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the department of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, told the Washington Post.
Low oxygen value
Doctors ensured transparency at one point: On Friday morning, the president had a high fever (a typical corona symptom), and his blood oxygen saturation fell below 94 percent. Then they gave him two liters of oxygen. Soon after, Trump was rushed to the hospital, where saturation again fell below 93 percent on Saturday.
A value of 95 percent is normally the lower limit. “If it falls below 94 percent, you are, by definition, seriously ill from Covid,” Emory University infectologist Carlos del Río told Politico. The therapies that were given to him are also an indication that the coronavirus seriously affected the 73-year-old Trump:
- On Friday he received an infusion of an antibody cocktail from the biotech company Regeneron, which is not yet officially approved for his treatment. The Basel pharmaceutical company Roche is also involved in the development. According to the New York Times, the antibodies should prevent the virus from spreading throughout the body.
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- Trump will also receive the antiviral drug Remdesivir from US manufacturer Gilead for five days. It has received preliminary approval and is believed to reduce mortality. Remdesivir is not considered a panacea, as it has sometimes been touted.
- According to his doctor, the President of the United States also takes zinc, vitamin D, aspirin, and the sleep hormone melatonin. The acid blocker famotidine is also on Trump’s list of medications. It should also reduce the risk of death.
- News that Trump received the steroid dexamethasone caused a stir Sunday. It is said to prevent the immune system from overreacting, which has cost many Covid 19 patients their lives. The US National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend dexamethasone alone for severe cases. If the symptoms are milder, the drug is useless, it can even be harmful.
Treatment with dexamethasone alone is considered alarming. The entire cocktail of drugs being administered to Trump provokes even more frowns. Several of the experts questioned cited a popular saying in the United States: “You throw the sink at him.” Trump is being treated with heavy artillery and full of drugs.
Does Trump suffer from VIP syndrome?
“Is he sicker than we think, or is he being treated particularly aggressively because he’s president, in a potentially damaging way?” Asked Dr. Thomas McGinn in the New York Times. For him and others, there is the possibility that Donald Trump will demand such concentrated treatment without being aware of the risks.
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There’s even a technical term for it: VIP syndrome. It could also be an explanation of the scenario reserved for pink that your medical team outlines. Because in Donald Trump’s world it is essential to avoid any sign of weakness. This particularly applies to a threat that you have long downplayed and ignored.
It remains to be seen what price, physical and / or political, you will have to pay. Examples of other prominent Covid patients show how Trump could fare: “He has never experienced anything so serious,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. And Silvio Berlusconi, 84, was “afraid not to do it.”