Thailand Sees Success Using Antiviral Cocktail To Treat Patient With Coronavirus

On February 2, Thailand’s health ministry announced that a Coronavirusinfected Chinese woman had shown dramatic improvement after receiving treatment with a drug cocktail of antivirals that are used for flu and HIV.

During the daily press briefing of the ministry, doctor Kriengsak Attipornwanich said that, 48 hours after being given the combination, the 71-year-old patient’s test for the virus had turned out to be negative.

He said:

From being exhausted, the patient could sit up in her bed 12 hours later.

The doctors combined oseltamivir, an antiviral used to treat flu, with ritonavir and lopinavir, antivirals used for HIV. Kriengsak added that research results were underway to prove the findings.

So far, in Thailand, there have been 19 confirmed cases of Coronavirus. Eight patients who were receiving treatment in Thailand have fully recovered and returned to their homes while 11 continued to stay in the hospital.

There are 17,373 confirmed cases with 362 deaths and 486 recoveries.

The virus is believed to have come from Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which is a trading place for wildlife. On 23 January, to prevent the virus from spreading, the Chinese authorities put the city under lockdown. Some airlines have also suspended their flights to mainland China.

Foreign nationals who are being evacuated from the city are being transferred into quarantine centers. The deadly virus has spread to 16 countries outside of China including Australia, Cambodia, Canada, France, Germany, Côte d'Ivoire, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.S, and Vietnam.

>>> Wuhan Coronavirus: How Long Do We Have To Wait For A Treatment?