Coronavirus treatment draws similarities to treating the flu

February 21, 2020 7:05 PM

Maher Kawash,

Posted: February 21, 2020 7:05 PM

by Maher Kawash

SPOKANE, Wash.– Four Coronavirus patients are alive and receiving treatment at Sacred Heart Hospital. There are also people being treated for the flu in that same hospital.

The treatment for those two viruses is actually more similar than you might think.

For example, when you get the flu, your doctor will tell you to drink a lot of fluids and get as much nutrition as you can.

That’s about the extent of what doctors are telling patients with Coronavirus.

“It’s probably a lot like the flu in that we know it’s a respiratory virus, so things like antibiotics don’t work. It’s a lot of supportive care,” UW Medicine Assoc. Professor John Lynch said.

So, if antibiotics don’t work, then what does?

Well, the treatment on a Snohomish County man may be the best example. Doctors in Everett gave the patient an experimental drug called Remdesiver.

“It’s an anti-viral. It’s actually more related to some of the HIV drugs that we use which block how the viruses replicate,” Lynch said.

The impact that drug had on his recovery is still somewhat unknown, but it’s a good sign.

As for how this virus spreads, well again, it’s like the flu. When an infected person coughs or sneezes, they let out infected droplets.

‘Those droplets are pretty heavy and they fall within about six feet of the person,” Lynch said. “If you’re within that six feet as an uninfected person, and you breathe in those droplets and the virus, you can get infected.”

That’s why it’s so important to wash your hands and keep your hands away from your face and mouth.

With that said, that chance of you getting this virus is still pretty low.

“This infectious disease is still very rare, and the risk of it getting out of healthcare institutions when we know it’s there and we have trained teams to take care of it is extremely low,” Lynch said.