Patients inhale it directly into their lungs to stimulate the immune system.
When it comes to severe cases of the coronavirus, the more tools that are available in the box to treat it, the better. And now, doctors may soon have one more. A new treatment has been developed by a biotech company called Synairgen, based in Southampton, England, and it uses a protein called interferon beta to better your odds. A report on BBC.com tells of how patients inhale the protein into their lungs using a nebuliser. The idea is that this will stimulate an immune response in patients, which will then help them fight off the coronavirus with better success.
What is this stuff, and where did it come from? Interferon beta is something that your body produces naturally when you are infected with a virus. Normally, it is part of your so-called first line of defence against a virus. It helps your body get ready to try and conquer the invader. The novel coronavirus is so successful at living in humans however, because it seems to suppress the production of interferon beta protein. This leaves the virus to go undetected by your immune system for a while, allowing it to gain momentum. By administering interferon beta directly into your lungs, it can act like a wake up call. It tells your immune system to start ramping up a stronger antiviral response. Interferon beta is treatment that is already used in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis with some success.
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So, is this drug going to be our savior? Synairgen’s solution is still being analyzed for efficacy. It does look very promising, though. So far, the inhalant has reduced the chances of patients in hospitals being treated for the coronavirus from developing a severe case of the illness by up to almost 80%. Patients in hospital were two to three times more likely to recover enough to be able to go about their daily activities without being compromised when they took the protein inhaler. The treatment also reduced breathlessness in patients, and the length of their hospital stay.
The findings do need to be taken with a grain of salt for the moment, however. The results of the study, which was done in Britain, have not yet been peer reviewed. The data has not been made public either, so it is hard to say if this really is a treatment that has passed the test or whether the findings were partially accidental or coincidental. It could be a real boon to the pandemic however, if it is proven to be widely effective.
New coronavirus cases continue to climb in the US and elsewhere. Sometimes death rates are going down, and at other times they seem to be rising. So far, over 147,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the US since March 2020.
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