Docs used mix of swine flu, HIV, malaria drugs to cure patients

COVID-19 Health dept official says state doctors are getting calls from other states and countries including the US to know about treatment

JAIPUR: In a significant achievement, doctors in Rajasthan claim to have successfully treated three coronavirus patients with a combination of drugs used to treat swine flu, HIV and malaria.

A 69-year-old Italian, who was the first coronavirus patient in the state, was declared free of coronavirus on Sunday. The patient was undergoing treatment at the SMS hospital in Jaipur.

The second patient, an 85-yearold man from Jaipur, who had returned from Dubai, has also recovered and is under observation.

The Italian patient’s wife, who also had the virus, had recovered earlier and was shifted to the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences in Jaipur.

The Italian couple were part of a tourist group that visited several places in Rajasthan last month. After being detected with the virus, the couple was isolated and under treatment at SMS Hospital.

Rohit Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary, health, said the Italian tourist and the Jaipur resident had tested negative twice and both were now coronavirus free.

Singh said doctors had initially treated the Italian couple with malaria and swine flu drugs. “The doctors were in touch with the Indian Council of Medical Research, which has a treatment protocol with malaria, swine flu and HIV drugs. So, the combination drugs were given to the three patients and it seems to have worked as they have all recovered,” he said.

He said the doctors are getting calls from other states and countries such as the US to know more about the treatment. Dr Sudhir Bhandari, principal of SMS Medical College, said doctors have been contacting them. “We have been sharing the treatment as well as the research and documents with them. The ICMR too has approved the protocol,” he said.

Dr Bhandari was part of the team of doctors at SMS hospital, who treated the patients. The other doctors in the team were Dr Raman Sharma, Dr S Banerjee and Dr P Keswani.

Dr Bhandari said the doctors met on February 2 and discussed the treatment path since there is no standard treatment protocol for Covid-19, the treatment to the

ROHIT KUMAR SINGH, additional chief secretary, health

The doctors were in touch with the ICMR, which has a treatment protocol with malaria, swine flu and HIV drugs. So, the combination drugs were given to the three patients and it seems to have worked as they have all recovered

patients was given on a trial basis and proves successful.

Dr Raman Sharma said the patients were given a combination of ritonavir and lopinavir, used for treating HIV, along with oseltamivir used in the treatment of swine flu and chloroquin, used for treating malaria.

This combination of drugs was also used to treat patients at the time of the MERS and SARS virus outbreaks, saiddr Sharma, who has been appointed as the nodal doctor for the state of Rajasthan by the central government, which has prepared a list of doctors for all states.

Dr Sharma said these were high-risk patient with co-morbidities. “Two of the three patients had significant underlying co-morbid diseases, but when the results turned out negative that amazed us.” He said the drugs are given for 7 to 14 days.

The two male patients were being given the combination drugs since March 3. “We took two consecutive samples of one patient on the 7th day and they both were negative. The samples of the other patient were taken on the 10th day and they were negative. We are monitoring them daily. They are now clear of the coronavirus.”

However, he said, their underlying problems remain and they are being treated for those.

Dr Bhandari, said they decided on the line of treatment after researching the literature. “There is a protocol in cases of viral disease. We read-up on the literature. There are some antiviral drugs that help in reducing the viral load. This drug combination is safe and so we decided on this,” he said.

He said the drugs are only indicated for those patients who have complications of coronavirus.