Table of contents:
- Is it true that anti-malarial drugs can overcome COVID-19?
- 1,024,298
- 831,330
- 28,855
- How antimalarial drugs and remdesivir work in dealing with COVID-19
- 1. Chloroquine
- 2. Remdesivir
After passing a series of clinical trials, a number of researchers in China confirmed a few days ago that anti-malarial drugs were proven to be able to deal with COVID-19 effectively. This drug may even be used in the near future, and can be distributed to various health facilities that need it.
Until the last few weeks, the search for a drug and vaccine for COVID-19 has not yet produced a bright spot. However, who would have thought, the drug that has the potential to overcome COVID-19 is actually an antimalarial drug that has been used for the last 70 years. How do antimalarial drugs work against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19?
Is it true that anti-malarial drugs can overcome COVID-19?
In one of the articles published in the journal Cell Research, researchers from the Wuhan Virology Institute, China, revealed that there are two compounds that can prevent the virus from multiplying very effectively. Both of them are chloroquine and remdesivir.
Chloroquine, or scientifically known as chloroquine phosphate, is a drug used to treat malaria. Meanwhile, remdesivir is an artificial compound that can inhibit activity and prevent viral replication.
Researchers saw the potential for antimalarial drugs to tackle COVID-19 as they conducted clinical trials on patients at more than 10 hospitals in Beijing. The patient actually got better after taking antimalarial drugs regularly.
Patients taking antimalarial drugs no longer have high fever. CT results scan the lungs are showing progress and an increasing number of patients are having negative results when tested with a viral nucleic acid test.
COVID-19 Outbreak updates Country: IndonesiaData1,024,298
Confirmed831,330
Recovered28,855
DeathDistribution MapIn addition, the bodies of patients taking anti-malarial drugs are also able to deal with COVID-19 more quickly. This was experienced by a 54-year-old patient from Beijing who was hospitalized after four days showing symptoms of coronavirus infection.
After taking antimalarial drugs for one week, the man's condition began to improve and his symptoms decreased. The viral nucleic acid test also comes back negative, which means that there is no more virus in its body.
Not long ago, researchers from the National Health Commission and the National Medical Products Administration of China also reported the results of their experiments on chloroquine. They found that this antimalarial drug could treat COVID-19 in two ways.
First, chloroquine can change the acidic and alkaline conditions in the body cells that the virus targets. This will affect the condition of the cell receptors so that the coronavirus cannot bind to body cells or infect them.
Second, chloroquine in antimalarial drugs can stimulate the activity of the immune system and increase its ability to fight viruses. This compound even helps increase the immune response evenly, including in the lungs.
How antimalarial drugs and remdesivir work in dealing with COVID-19
Chloroquine and remdesivir are two compounds that have the potential to become drugs for the COVID-19 outbreak. The reason is, both of them can effectively prevent the growth and attachment of viruses to body cells. Here's how both work:
1. Chloroquine
Chloroquine is a synthetic form of quinine, a compound in the bark of the quinine tree that has long been used to treat malaria. However, since the Plasmodium parasite that causes malaria began to become resistant, chloroquine was replaced by other compounds similar to it and combination therapy.
Chloroquine now it is still used to treat malaria caused by the three Plasmodium species, to treat autoimmune diseases, and intestinal infections due to amoeba. This is caused by chloroquine has strong antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties.
This anti-malarial drug is believed to treat COVID-19 by increasing the pH of cells that are targeted by the virus. If the cell pH increases, the cell will have alkaline properties. Viruses cannot attach to or infect cells if they are alkaline.
2. Remdesivir
Another compound that is alleged to be able to overcome COVID-19 is remdesivir. This experimental compound was discovered in 2016 and has previously been tested to treat Ebola disease as well Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
Remdesivir works by inhibiting viral polymerase activity so that the virus cannot form the genetic material needed to reproduce itself. As a result, the virus cannot last long, so the symptoms of infection gradually diminish.
Remdesivir is a promising antiviral drug, especially against RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. Researchers believe that the combination of the antimalarial drug and remdesivir will make them even more effective in dealing with COVID-19.
The COVID-19 outbreak continues to expand and the number of cases has now touched 76,792 people. Of these, 55,860 people had mild infections, while 2,247 people were reported to have died.
The search for a cure for COVID-19 still has not found a definite point. Even so, the malaria drugs and remdesivir seem to be a breath of fresh air for researchers who are looking for ways to deal with COVID-19.
While looking forward to the arrival of drugs and vaccines, the best step that can be done now is to protect yourself from coronavirus infection. To do this, wash your hands regularly, use a mask when traveling, and limit close contact with people who experience respiratory problems.
