BREAKING: Drugs that kills COVID-19 in 48 hours discovered by Scientists | READ DETAILS
Thompson Nsisongabasi
Apr 07, 2020
Scientists in Australia have found an already existing drug that kills COVID-19 in the laboratory within 48 hours.
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The drug, Ivermectin, is used to treat head lice and is available all over the world.
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Researchers at Monash University found that a single dose of Ivermectin stops the SARS-CoV-2 virus growing in cell culture.
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But the research is in its early stages and Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug, has not yet been tested on persons infected with COVID-19.
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According to British tabloid Daily Mail, the next step is for scientists to determine the correct human dosage, to make sure the level used in vitro is safe for humans.
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The scientists warned that it could take at least a month before human trials start.
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'We found that even a single dose could essentially remove all viral RNA (effectively removed all genetic material of the virus) by 48 hours and that even at 24 hours there was a really significant reduction in it,' Daily Mail quotes Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute's Dr Kylie Wagstaff as saying last Friday.
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He added: "In times when we're having a global pandemic and there isn't an approved treatment, if we had a compound that was already available around the world then that might help people sooner.
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"Realistically it's going to be a while before a vaccine is broadly available.'
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The study is the work of Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and the Peter Doherty Institute of Infection and Immunity.
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Ivermectin was discovered in 1975 and came into medical use in 1981.
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It is on the World Health Organization (WHO's) List of Essential Medicines, the safest and most effective medicines needed in a health system.
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The wholesale cost in the developing world for the tablets is about US$0.12 for a course of treatment.
Ivermectin is available around the world in its trade names Stromectol and Soolantra cream.
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It has been used since the 1980s to treat and prevent diseases related to parasites in humans, pets and livestock, and works by paralysing invertebrate parasites.
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Ivermectin is also a second-line treatment for scabies.
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The pharmaceutical company that makes Ivermectin, MSD, has also been donating the drug to developing countries to treat the parasitic diseases river blindness and elephantiasis for the past 30 years.
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When used at the recommended dose, Ivermectin is generally well tolerated. Some of the common side effects include diarrhoea, nausea, dizziness and drowsiness.
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— Thompson Nsisongabasi