Pharmacologic agents for the management of COVID-19: a review (original) (raw)

International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health

Coronavirus, in December 2019, caused a SARS-2 pandemic. Primarily targeting the human respiratory system, the major symptoms of this disease are high grade fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, and fatigue while symptoms involving other organ systems such as diarrhea, headache, conjunctivitis, and rash also develops. Like a SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in 2002, SARS-CoV-2 is difficult to treat as minimal data is available regarding its treatment strategies and potential cure of the disease. A thorough literature review was done to identify different potential treatments for SARS-CoV-2 and a perspective of a developing country, Pakistan, on managing and treating this infection was provided. We found that use of off-label drugs including including chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, azithromycin, interferon, ribavirin, lopinavir-ritonavir, increased exponentially to treat COVID-19 patients around the world and studies suggested their efficacy against SARS-CoV-2. Use of ...