Arbidol versus COVID-19.
It is this Arbidol medication that you see in the pictures here, and on the back of the box, it lists three regimens of treatment: for treating a flu (or viral infection) in progress, for prophylaxis after known exposure and for general prophylaxis during an epidemic.
While I don't recommend anything to anybody and merely record what seems interesting (please contact WHO for guidance), here is that Chinese article.
Potential of arbidol for post-exposure prophylaxis of
COVID-19 transmission - preliminary report of a retrospective case-control
study
Jinnong ZhANG1, Wenjing WANG1, Bo PENG2, Wei PENG2,
Yisheng ZHANG3,
Yaling WANG4, Yan WAN4, Jiang CHANG5, Ling MAO4,
Xiaoping MIAO5, Yifan
ZHOU4*, Yanan LI4, Yu HU6 & Bo HU4
1Department of Emergency medicine, Union hospital,
Tongji medical college, Huazhong university of science and technology, Wuhan,
430022, China
2 Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, Heart and Lung
Institute of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA 84108
3 Tongji medical college and School of Material
science and engineering, Huazhong university of science and technology, Wuhan,
430022, China
4 Department of Neurology, Union hospital, Tongji
medical college, Huazhong university of science and technology, Wuhan, 430022,
China
5 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key
Laboratory for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Huazhong
university of science and technology, Wuhan, 430022, China
6 Department of Hematology, Union hospital, Tongji
medical college, Huazhong university of science and technology, Wuhan, 430022,
China
Author Contribution Statement
Wenjing Wang, Yanan Li, and Yifan Zhou did the literature
search;
Bo Hu and Jinnong Zhang were responsible for the
concept of the study;
Jinnong Zhang, Bo Hu and Bo Peng were responsible for
its design;
Yisheng Zhang, Yanan Li, Yifan Zhou, Wenjing Wang, Yan
Wan, Yaling Wang and Ling Mao
collected data;
Jiang Chang, Wei Peng and Xiaoping Miao analyzed data;
Bo Hu, Jinnong Zhang and Bo Peng interpreted data;
Jinnong Zhang, Bo Hu, Wei Peng, Bo Peng, Wenjing Wang,
Yanan Li and Yifan Zhou wrote the
manuscript.
Contributed equally
*Correspondence author:
Bo Hu
Or Yu Hu
Or Yanan Li
Or Yifan Zhou
Abstract
Objective: we postulated that post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)
using Arbidol is associated with decreased infection among individuals exposed
to confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control
study on family members and health care workers who were exposed to patients
confirmed to have SARS-CoV-2 infection by real-time RT-PCR and Chest CT from
January 1 to January 16, 2020. We collected demographic information, work location
of exposure, post-exposure prophylaxis information, and symptoms, if any, 24
days after exposure. The relation between post-exposure prophylaxis and
infection in household contacts and healthcare workers were respectively
analyzed.
Results: 27 families and 124 health care workers had evidence
of close exposure to patients with confirmed COVID-19. There were no
differences in age, profession and sex distribution in the two groups with
different post-exposure prophylaxis, table 1. Logistic regression based on the
data of the family members and health care workers with Arbidol or Oseltamivir
prophylaxis showed that Arbidol PEP was a strong protective factor against the
development of COVID-19 (Odds ratio 0011 , 95% CI 0001-0-125, P=00003 for
family members and Odds ratio 0049, 95%CI 0-003-0-717), P= 00276 for health
care workers). On the contrary, Oseltamivir was associated with an increase in
COVID-19 infection (Odds ratio 20-446, 95% CI 1 -407-297-143, P= 00271).
Limitations: Limitations of this study include the
retrospective design of case-control studies and potential selection bias
because the collection of data was through telephone calls.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest Arbidol could reduce
the infection risk of the novel coronavirus in hospital and family settings.
This treatment should be promoted for PEP use and should be the subject of
further investigation.
Key words: Arbidol; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2;
Post-exposure prophylaxis
