New studies at Imperial College London have shown that, treatment with a relatively cheap (about £60 per patient per treatment) steroid, hydrocortisone, can dramatically improve the outcome for many patients with a severe Covid-19 infection (https://imperialbrc.nihr.ac.uk/2020/09/02/hydrocortisone-covid19/). This preparation should be given early, before putting the patient onto a ventilator (or even when the patient is in respiratory distress but a ventilator is unnecessary). It now joins another relatively cheap and approved anti-inflammatory, dexamethasone, as a prevention of a damaging over-activation of the body's immune system. Both synthetic steroids essentially suppress antibodies by converting these proteins into glucose. You may already be familiar with hydrocortisone, as a low dose is the active ingredient in many of the creams used to treat acne and eczema.
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