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Pipeline: Investigational Antiviral Therapies for COVID-19 - MPR
Could azithromycin prevent NHS workers from developing COVID-19?
Drug used to manage hospital Covid-19 withheld from nursing homes
Any potential vaccine will have to be tested and assessed in some way. Azithromycin may prove effective but it hasn't been properly tested.
That newspaper article reported:
"Azithromycin has produced positive outcomes in some cases of Covid-19, particularly where there has been pneumonia and respiratory failure. In other cases results have been inconclusive, according to a HSE bulletin on its use, dated April 2nd.
Prepared by the Covid-19 rapid evidence review group, the bulletin reports on two studies on the use of azithromycin with hydrochloraquin.
It states: “There are inconsistencies in the study findings, with one study in 80 patients reporting broadly positive outcomes from the combination therapy, including negative viral load in 83 per cent of the cohort on day seven, while another study in 11 patients concluded there is no evidence of rapid anti-viral clearance or clinical benefit.”
The Irish College of General Practitioners was not concerned at the ban on azithromycin for Covid-19 patients outside hospital. There is currently no evidence to support using any antibiotic to treat viral Covid-19 in patients in the community who are otherwise healthy...We do not need access to azithromycin for treatment of viral Covid-19 in the community.”
In my view at this point the efficacy of any treatment is uncertain and will need careful observation. Techniques will likely need refinement I feel.
As I wrote earlier, there appears to be no certain prospect of an effective treatment or a vaccine emerging in any foreseeable future - at the moment we can only hope.
Based on previous experience experts suggest it may need 12 to 18 months to develop and mass produce vaccine if all goes well but maybe things will happen more quickly. Who knows?
As I wrote on Roberta's blog recently, I hope for the best but try to be prepared for something less.....