Two More Life-Saving Covid Drugs Discovered
The title of this post, is the same as this article on the BBC.
With all the reporting of the shenanigans going on with Trump in the United States, this important story seems to have been buried in the news.
This is the first two paragraph of the BBC articles.
Two more life-saving drugs have been found that can cut deaths by a quarter in patients who are sickest with Covid.
The anti-inflammatory medications, given via a drip, save an extra life for every 12 treated, say researchers who have carried out a trial in NHS intensive care units.
The drugs are tocilizumab and sarilumab, which appear to be readily available.
So what was that sore-loser Trump doing?
Certainly nothing to fight the most dangerous pandemic to hit the world for a hundred years.
If he had got to grips with the pandemic in the United States, his name would have gone down in history for all the wrong reasons.
Instead, he’ll be remembered for two words beginning with I; idiot and infamy.
Is There A Link Between Tocilizumab And Coeliac Disease?
I always check new drugs proposed for the covids against coeliac disease, ever since I found that Dexamethazone could be used to treat coeliacs, who couldn’t stick to a gluten-free diet.
I found nothing for sarilumab, but I did find this article for tocilizumab (Actemra), which is entitled Will You Have Celiac Disease With Actemra?.
This is the summary.
Celiac disease is found among people who take Actemra, especially for people who are female, 50-59 old, have been taking the drug for 1 – 6 months.
The phase IV clinical study is created by eHealthMe based on reports of 55,370 people who have side effects when taking Actemra from the FDA, and is updated regularly.
Strange! Like the incorrect American spelling!
The Anonymous Widower 
New drugs are great news, but arguably many people wouldn’t have needed hospital treatment had they been given proper, timely advice about self-care.
The critical moment is when a person first realises they might have Covid. For a start, they need to be aware of the full range of symptoms – there are far more than the mere three that qualify you for an NHS test. We urgently need people to be given simple, practical Covid self-care information. If we’re given the tools to handle this disease the moment it appears, many more people would be able to recover safely at home, thereby freeing up our ambulances and hospitals. And we need to know the point at which we should be worried about someone’s condition so we can get help in good time. I fear that people may be dying because they don’t have this basic information.
Comment by Stephen Spark | January 7, 2021 |
I saw this article on the BBC website, and was very interested. Some drugs from the same family are being trialled for treatment of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia, which I have. My immune system is affected by this disease – it makes me have very little immunity to anything. Thankfully, I have been told by my haemo-oncologist how to manage if I do get it, what to check etc, and to go to hospital straight away.
Comment by Liz | January 7, 2021 |
Did you see the program on the BBC last night about the immune system? Interesting stuff.
I know a cancer researcher, who feels there’s a lot to come from all this research into the covids, as far as cancer is concerned.
Comment by AnonW | January 7, 2021 |
I have yet to watch the BBC program. I know therNote is a lot to learn about cancer and the start of cancer from covid. People produce cancerous cells all the time, and the immune system kills them. It is a failing in the immune system which causes them develop into some form of cancer – a sold tumour or blood cancer. I am aware that because my blood cancer affects my lymph nodes and spleen I am at a higher risk of developing another unrelated cancer than someone with a healthy immune system. At the very first sign of anything wrong I am to be given a scan or whatever test is relevant. Since I was ill earlier this year I have lost my appetite and unintentionally “misplaced” almost 5 stone of bodyweight. My consultant is not happy with me. If I have lost any more when I go next week I will be sent for another scan. So I am trying not to gain weight in case he doesn’t do the scan and something is wrong that we don’t find. As Neil has pointed out though, I am not eating much at all. I sometimes don’t realise I haven’t had lunch until about 4.30 in the afternoon. Currently on 8 week visits, down from 3 months. I think that probably it is due to change in medication, and My GP rather reluctantly agrees. I meanwhile have a lot of clothes which no longer fit me. But I am living in leggings and t-shirts so not a problem. But I am shielding again. And very fed up, and very resentful of all the people who are completely ignoring the lockdown and thus spreading the infection further, resulting in me shielding for even longer. End of May Neil and I will have been married for 40 years. We would have liked to celebrate properly, but we don’t know what the infection rates will be doing.
Comment by nosnikrapzil | January 8, 2021 |
I wouldn’t give up hope of a proper celebration yet. The underlying direction of the figures seems to be starting to improve. This could be people are now believing that better times are ahead and are now behaving themselves, as they can see it will be worth it. I watched ,my wife get happier, as she got nearer to the end of the radiotherapy for her breast cancer.
Comment by AnonW | January 8, 2021 |