In the subset of critically-ill COVID-19 cases, the body’s immune system is in overdrive – fighting hard to kill the coronavirus, and this has collateral damage. This condition is called Cytokine Storm, or Cytokine Release Syndrome, and it can be deadly as it causes inflammation in the airways and tissue damage, specifically thrombosis, in the lungs.
Steroids are anti-inflammatory, and as the airways are swelling and the tissue damage is occurring, steroids can help reduce the damage that’s being done by stopping the swelling and making the immune system calm down.
In the subset of serious COVID-19 cases, a recent Oxford study has shown that a low-dose steroid treatment of Dexamethasone:
For patients on ventilators, it cut the risk of death from 40% to 28%.
For patients needing oxygen, it cut the risk of death from 25% to 20%.
Another huge selling point: Dexamethasone is cheap and globally available right now, so healthcare professionals have a treatment available to them immediately to improve the health outcomes of severe COVID-19 patients.
While Hydroxycholoroquine is an alternative treatment, a major issue is that for some patients, it may increase fatalities for people who have heart-problems.
The other treatment, Remdesivir, has been shown to reduce the number of days to recover from 15 to 11, however it has yet to show that it reduces rates of mortality.
“The first drug proven to cut deaths from Covid-19 is not some new, expensive medicine but an old, cheap-as-chips steroid.”
Other relevant statistics:
19 out of 20 COVID-19 patients do not need to go to the hospital.
The 1 out of 20 that do, most recover on their own, but some need oxygen or ventilators for the serious cases.
Work Cited:
