COVID COCKTAIL
Where the popular drugs for mild Covid treatment stand
min brand sold more of its pills than medicine for lifestyle ailments such as diabetes and heart disease. Zincovit, a 30-year-old brand by Apex Labs in Chennai, recorded sales of Rs 50 crore that month—more than that of Human Mixtard or insulin, which clocked Rs 47 crore. This multivitamin and multimineral supplement was a paltry No. 53 on the list of top medicines sold in the organised pharma retail market in January 2020. Post-pandemic, it was number one. But there has been no proof that either Zinc or Vitamin C can help fight Covid. In fact, a small study published this year in medical journal JAMA Network Open of 214 people suggested that high doses of Zinc and Vitamin C consumption did not significantly improve symptoms.
Dr Mulund Rasika Parab, a nutritionist with Fortis Hospital, Mumbai, says: “You can’t just pop a pill or eat a lot of one food group and get immunity. Zinc became a wonder nutrient during the pandemic, but your body needs only a little bit of it alongside several other vitamins. Overdosing on vitamins, particularly if you are already on other medication, has many side-effects,” says Dr Parab. For Delhi-based Kalpana Jain (name changed on request), a 41-year-old heart patient, taking a Zinc supplement alongside others which also had Zinc in it, caused her to lose consciousness one morning. The overconsumption of Zinc had reacted adversely with the blood thinners in her heart medication. “Everybody said take Zinc for Covid. So I took it. I didn’t think there would be side-effects,” says Jain.
WHAT TO DO IN MILD CASES
The latest MoHFW guidelines suggest treatment based purely on symptoms. For those with no symptoms, only isolation and rest are advised. “You don’t need to do repeated blood tests or CT scans if you have no symptoms or just some fever. You can do a six-minute walk on the eighth or the 12th day to keep a check on the active phase of the infection,” says Dr Menon. “The return of fever or worsening of cough after testing negative might be signs of a bacterial infection. That’s when you check in with your doctor.”
There is some scope of corticosteroids preventing the disease from escalating. “No medicine does not mean you don’t treat symptoms or use clinically proven solutions. For example, if you have fever and cough, then inhaling budesonide early in the disease reduces the virus’s progression. Beyond this, there is nothing else for mild cases— moderate to severe have to be admitted to hospitals,” says Dr Tickoo.
Antibiotics are wonderful drugs and have a history of saving lives. They just need to be used correctly.
Indians have also been massively OVERDOSING on nutritional SUPPLEMENTS since the pandemic began