Out and About in Corona Quarantine Moscow May 05, 2020 Edition

Out and About in Corona Quarantine Moscow May 05, 2020 Edition

Colonel Sanders' ad

Arbidol > COVID-19?

Arbidol versus COVID-19.

As is known, there are no drugs with specific action against the coronavirus Covid-19 or so we are told.

However, there is an antiviral drug available only in Russia, China and some other ex-Soviet republics that has shown some promise in the action against Covid-19, and some information, if not evidence, to that effect has been emerging from China.

Even though Arbidol is mentioned in the context of fighting the new coronavirus, it has a checkered reputation, of which you can read in its wikipedia entry, for example. 

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.

Here is something from a Chinese research paper on Arbidol:

"Arbidol (Umifenovir) is a broad-spectrum anti-viral agent that is now widely used in China because of its use in treating influenza and recently its potential efficacy in treating COVID-19. Several in vitro studies indicate that Arbidol possesses inhibitory effect on coronavirus [5-7] and its derivative, Arbidol mesylate is even stronger against SARS-CoV [7].One study indicated that the therapeutic index of Arbidol (or selective index) on coronaviridae was 118, which is much higher than for orthomyxoviridae, which are 24 and 25 for influenza A/Aichi/2/68(H3N2) and B/Beijing/184/93, respectively[4]"-

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

Worldometer Coronavirus Update (Live)

Worldometer Coronavirus Update (Live)