Why everyone’s talking about... Paracetamol

I’m just off to get some paracetamol since the NHS has recommended it to treat the symptoms of coronavirus…

Make sure you’ve got enough cash. A 32-pack of pills in one Birmingham store has risen from £1.39 to £9.99 because of demand. Sounds as if we need to update the corny old joke ‘Why are there no painkillers in the jungle?’ Answer: ‘Because the parrots ate them all!’

But this is much too serious a subject for jokes!

OK, paracetamol’s catchy pharmaceutical name is N-acetyl-p-aminophenol. It was first synthesised in 1877, by the chemist Harmon Northrop Morse, who grew up in the Green Mountains of Vermont. But it took another decade to be tried clinically on humans. Even then it was slow to catch on, probably because it turned some patients’ skin blue – due, it’s thought, to contamination. It was rediscovered in 1947. Even in normal times, 200 million packets a year are sold in the UK.

What’s it good for?

Reducing fever, pain relief, tackling headaches, possibly improving exercise performance. You can even clean a scorched iron with it; just rub a tablet on the hot surface and stains come off. Last week, Bond girl Olga Kurylenko, right, claimed she was recovering from coronavirus after doctors gave her nothing but paracetamol.

How does it work?

No one knows. Maybe it inhibits the production of certain hormones, or perhaps it affects receptor cells. Some scientists think it’s a placebo and that chalk is just as good. One study said turmeric is as effective; another – which we definitely choose to believe – said a couple of pints of beer would do an equal job. Needless to say, that last research came from a British university…

Any side-effects?

Not usually, if you stick to recommended doses. But too much can lead to liver or kidney damage and even death. Studies have found the painkiller ( known as acetaminophen in America) may inhibit the feeling of empathy, and dampen feelings of rejection, so it could be said to heal a broken heart.

And for animals?

It is extremely toxic to cats. And deadly to snakes – having been used to kill off an invasive species on the Pacific island of Guam. Dead mice pumped full of the drug were dropped from helicopters into the forest, each with a tiny parachute.

Let’s hope supplies don’t run out

Fingers crossed – because India, the world’s main supplier of generic drugs, has restricted the export of 26 pharmaceutical ingredients and the medicines made from them, including paracetamol.