As I’m sure we’re all painfully aware, there is not much we can currently do to prevent the spread of the coronavirus besides “practicing social distancing” and washing our hands well. However, the outbreak of this virus has set the world moving at a pace never before seen searching for the cure. Although the virus is relatively new, there are already multiple treatment options being tested as quickly as possible as the virus continues to spread. I will be talking about two today.
Remdesivir was produced many years ago as a drug that could generally help us fight viruses. It targets the specific machinery certain viruses use to replicate their RNA encoded genetic information. Although this treatment was pushed many years ago to help relieve the ebola epidemic, it did not amount to much in the treatment of that illness. However, testing indicates that it could be effective in the treatment of the coronavirus, MERS, and SARS viruses. Although it is obviously still in the trial phase, it is speeding its way through and will hopefully emerge as a possible treatment before too long, as it does seem to be a promising option.
Next, scientists are now exploring the effectiveness of providing patients with passive immunity. In this treatment, survivors of the coronavirus would donate their blood plasma and, therefore, the antibodies they produced while fighting the disease to patients who seemed unable to fight it off themselves. This kind of treatment is called “serum therapy” and also seems very promising. This treatment uses the same antibodies that were effective in fighting off the coronavirus in other patients and puts them into someone new who needs them. Passive immunity is not a new concept, babies gain passive immunity from the antibodies in their mother’s milk and their blood while they are still in the womb, so it follows that transferring functional antibodies from one person to another intravenously would be just as effective.
These are only two of the many possible treatment options for the coronavirus, and as time goes on I’m sure the world will come up with more and more. However, as we all know, for now, all we can do is do our part and avoid unnecessary social contact and keep ourselves safe by practicing good hand hygiene and being careful about touching our faces.
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