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FRIDAY, May 15, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Interferon (IFN)-\u03b12b therapy seems to shorten the duration of viral shedding in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, according to a study published online May 15 in Frontiers in Immunology<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Qiong Zhou, M.D., Ph.D., from the Union Hospital Tongji Medical College and Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, and colleagues describe the effects of treatment with IFN-\u03b12b in a cohort of 77 adults hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19. Patients were treated with nebulized IFN-\u03b12b, umifenovir (Arbidol; currently only used in Russia and China) or a combination of IFN-\u03b12b plus umifenovir. For each patient, serial severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 testing along with hematological measurements, temperature, and blood saturation levels were recorded during their hospital stay.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that the duration of detectable virus in the upper respiratory tract was significantly reduced with treatment with IFN-\u03b12b with or without umifenovir; in parallel, the duration of elevated blood levels for the inflammatory markers interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein were reduced.<\/p>\n
“To our knowledge, the findings presented here are the first to suggest therapeutic efficacy in COVID-19 disease of IFN-\u03b12b, an available antiviral intervention,” the authors write. “Beyond clinical benefit to the individual patient, treatment with IFN-\u03b12b may also benefit public health measures aimed at slowing the tide of this pandemic, in that duration of viral shedding appears shortened.”<\/p>\n