Doctors use Ebola, HIV drugs to fight virus

Doctors are working to repurpose Ebola or Aids drugs to treat the coronavirus outbreak.

The number of people infected with the new virus, known as 2019-nCoV, has now surpassed 17,400, while at least 360 people have died.

The outbreak has spread from its epicentre in Wuhan, China, to some 25 other countries, including the UK, France and the US.

There are no drugs approved for fighting the virus so doctors are trialling drugs for several different diseases in an effort to contain the outbreak.

In Washington State a team of doctors successfully treated a patient with a broad spectrum antiviral used for Ebola.

Dr Timothy Sheahan, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, said the patient responded to the drug within 24 hours but sounded a note of caution.

‘‘Without a randomised controlled trial it’s hard to say if the patient would have improved if they didn’t get the drug. But we know that, in the lab at least, the drug is a potent antiviral,’’ he said.

The drug is being developed by Gilead, the pharmaceutical giant, which has said it is working with Chinese authorities to fast-track a study.

In Thailand, authorities announced that, 48 hours after taking a cocktail of flu and HIV antiviral drugs, a patient tested negative for coronavirus.Doctors in China have also been using HIV drugs

Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said repurposing existing drugs was important in an outbreak, but only if the proper clinical protocols were observed.

The World Health Organisation says it cannot recommend any specific treatment for the coronavirus and that unlicensed treatments should only be given in the context of clinical trials or under an emergency use framework. – Telegraph Group