Can Swine flu, Malaria, and HIV Drugs Help Treat Coronavirus Disease?

Coronavirus Patients can Be Treated with Antiviral Drugs Used for Swine Flu, Malaria, and HIV/AIDs: Doctors Say.  The world is trying to find effective treatment options for coronavirus disease.

Chinese doctors have successfully treated more than 85 percent of coronavirus patients with traditional Chinese medicine.

In February, Thailand's health minister claimed its doctors have found a cure for coronavirus disease.

Doctors in France, the United States of America and South Korea are using an antimalarial drug known as hydroxychloroquine to treat patients with COVID-19.

Coronavirus patients have been cured by a special combination of HIV, swine flu and malaria drugs in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Covid-19 patient treated with HIV drugs tests negative in Kerala.

Can Swine flu, Malaria, and HIV Drugs Help Treat Coronavirus Disease?

Can Coronavirus Patients Be Treated With Antiviral Drugs Used for Swine Flu, Malaria and HIV/AIDs?

Coronavirus Disease 2019: Overview

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus.

COVID-19 causes a respiratory illness with symptoms such as a fever, tiredness, and dry cough and in more severe cases, it causes difficulty breathing. 

You can protect yourself from coronavirus infection by washing your hands frequently, avoiding close contact with sick people and avoiding touching your face, nose, and eyes.

There is no specific medicine to prevent coronavirus infection or treat COVID-19.

Read more: Coronavirus Disease: Symptoms, Causes and Preventive Measures

What is the Treatment Now?

Some countries claim that their doctors have treated many people with coronavirus disease by combining swine flu, malaria, and HIV drugs.

There were a significant number of coronavirus cases in China. Chinese doctors have successfully treated more than 85 percent of coronavirus patients with traditional Chinese medicine.

Chinese doctors believe that a mixture of herbal remedies and mainstream antiviral drugs can strengthen the body's resistance and help patients recover faster.

Last month, CNN quoted a report from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, about 60,000 coronavirus patients in China were treated with a mixture of herbal remedies and mainstream antiviral drugs.

Read more: Who is 'Patient Zero' in COVID-19 Outbreak?

Doctors in France, the United States of America and South Korea, are using an antimalarial drug known as hydroxychloroquine to treat patients with Covid-19. 

BBC reported: US President Donald Trump, at his daily press briefing, claimed that chloroquine (one of the oldest and best-known anti-malarial drugs) has been approved in the United States to treat the novel coronavirus by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).

However, the FDA has made it clear that chloroquine has not yet been approved for the treatment of COVID-19 coronavirus patients. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that there is no definitive evidence of chloroquine effectiveness for the treatment of COVID-19 yet, but it is part of ongoing trials.

There are no FDA-approved therapeutics or medications to prevent coronavirus infection or treat or cure COVID-19.

According to news.com.au report, researchers at the University of Queensland in Brisbane think they may have found treatment for COVID-19. They claimed to disappear the COVID-19 virus with anti-malarial and HIV-antiviral drugs.

A combination of the anti-malarial drug (chloroquine) and HIV-antiviral drugs (lopinavir/ritonavir - brand name Kaletra) has shown encouraging results in human trials and large-scale trials will take place later this month.

Coronavirus patients were cured by drugs combination in Thailand.

In February, Thailand's health minister claimed its doctors have found solutions to combat the coronavirus.

The doctors said that using this injection, the patient of COVID-19 is getting comfortable and recovery is also taking very little time.

A Thai doctor - Dr. Kriangsak Atipornwanich, Rajavithi Hospital, who treated a Chinese woman infected by the Coronavirus, said that a 71-year-old sick woman was given anti-viral drugs combination, which cured her.

 This drug was made from a mixture of anti-viral drugs used in the treatment of flu and HIV.

In a lab test conducted 48 hours after treatment, the female coronavirus was found to be negative. 

Dr. Kriangsak Atipornwanich said that many coronavirus infected patients in Thailand have recovered and returned home.

At the same time, some people are being treated through this combination of drugs.

Ministry of Public Health (Thailand) also reported that doctors had mixed the anti-flu drug Oseltamivir with lopinavir and ritonavir. These drugs are used to cure HIV and flu.

COVID-19 Patient Treated With HIV Drugs Tests Negative in Kerala.

The Union Health Ministry recommended the use of anti-HIV drug combination to treat COVID-19 patients on a case-to-case basis.

On Wednesday, March 25, 2020, doctors at Ernakulam Medical College Hospital in Kochi, Kerala, said: "A British citizen who tested positive for coronavirus and was administered HIV antiretroviral drugs has now tested negative".

A hospital statement said that the patient responded well to the combination of drugs of ritonavir and lopinavir and that the results of his latest test showed that he tested negative for the virus.

Doctors said that the treatment of the patient who had been given drugs for seven days was effective. The results of the testing of his samples returned negative after three days of giving the drugs.

The doctors also disclosed his recovery after the second test result on 23 March was negative.

Officials said that for the first time in Kerala, HIV antiretroviral drug has been used to treat coronavirus patients.

Kerala State Medical Board had allowed the administration to use drugs on a patient suffering from pneumonia.

District Collector S. Suhas had taken the initiative to make the medicines available and the doctors modified the treatment protocol after obtaining the consent of the patient.

The treatment was led by a team of doctors. It was headed by Thomas Mathew, Principal of the Medical College.

COVID-19 patients have been cured by a special combination of the drugs in Jaipur.

The drug combination was already used to treat patients at a hospital in Jaipur when the Indian Council of Medical Research granted its permission to use this.

A woman who came to Rajasthan with a 23-member group from Italy was cured successfully using a combination of HIV, swine flu and malaria drugs. Many people in this group were found to be Corona positive.

Amidst claims to find coronavirus treatment, the doctors at the Sawai Man Singh Hospital (SMS Hospital) in Jaipur, Rajasthan, had cured the coronavirus infected woman with HIV, swine flu and malaria drugs. The report of that woman came negative in the COVID-19 test.

IAS Rohit Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Medical & Health and Family Welfare Department, Jaipur, said that the SMS hospital treated the woman with HIV drugs (lopinavir 200mg or ritonavir 50mg).

ICMR Approves Combination

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently approved the treatment of patients with COVID-19 from the combination of HIV, swine flu and malaria drugs.

The ICMR has allowed 58 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), including Lopinavir and Ritonavir, used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, for the treatment of coronavirus infected patients.

The government has asked the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) of all states to investigate the availability of 58 APIs issued by ICMR from all pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Some domestic drug makers say that only two months of stock of these APIs are left in the country. India imports 65-70 percent of these APIs from China.

What is the Future?

Clinical trials in China, Australia, and the United States should yield results in the near future.

A combination of the drugs used against malaria, swine flu, and HIV/AIDS has been the most effective so far. This doesn’t mean a cure for COVID-19 has been found. The cure has to be found.