{"id":14097,"date":"2020-09-09T17:11:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T17:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=14097"},"modified":"2020-09-09T17:11:10","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T17:11:10","slug":"study-vitamin-d3-mixed-with-hydroxychloroquine-shows-potential-in-treating-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/miscellaneous\/study-vitamin-d3-mixed-with-hydroxychloroquine-shows-potential-in-treating-covid-19","title":{"rendered":"Study: Vitamin D3 mixed with hydroxychloroquine shows potential in treating COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author:\u00a0Anyango Otieno\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>
\nAfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> Covid-19 patients with acute respiratory infections may recover after taking regimen of Vitamin D3, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, a new study has revealed.<\/p>\n

Published in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the study looked at 76 consecutive patients hospitalised with Covid-19 infection at Reina Sofia University Hospital, C\u00f3rdoba Spain.<\/p>\n

The patients received the same standard care, of a combination of\u00a0hydroxychloroquine (400mg every 12\u2009hours on the first day, and 200mg every 12\u2009hours for the following five days), azithromycin (500mg orally for five days) and for patients with pneumonia, a broad spectrum antibiotic (ceftriaxone 2g intravenously every 24\u2009hours for five days) was added to hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin.<\/p>\n

The final sample size for the study was about 50 patients, half of them treated with Calcifediol (Vitamin D3) and the other 25 patients in the group were not.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf the patients treated with calcifediol, none died, and all were discharged, without complications. The 13 patients not treated with calcifediol, who were not admitted to the ICU, were discharged.<\/p>\n

Of the 13 patients admitted to the ICU, two died and 11 were discharged,\u201d read the findings of the study in part.\u00a0Hydroxychloroquine was chosen because it was in-vitro more potent than chloroquine.<\/p>\n

According to the study, Calcifediol seems to reduce severity of the disease, but larger trials with groups properly matched will be required to show a definitive answer.\u00a0\u201cOur pilot study demonstrated that administration of a high dose of Calcifediol or 25-hydroxyvitamin D, a main metabolite of vitamin D endocrine system, significantly reduced the need for ICU treatment of patients requiring hospitalisation due to proven Covid-19,\u201d the study read.<\/p>\n