First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the US (Treated with Remdesivir)

nejm.org

9 points·fspeech··6 comments

https://www.nejm.org/na101/home/literatum/publisher/mms/jour...

"Figure 2. Symptoms and Maximum Body Temperatures According to Day of Illness and Day of Hospitalization, January 16 to January 30, 2020."

This is a great way of visualizing the symptoms over time.

"Treatment with intravenous remdesivir (a novel nucleotide analogue prodrug in development10,11) was initiated on the evening of day 7, and no adverse events were observed in association with the infusion. ...

On hospital day 8 (illness day 12), the patient’s clinical condition improved. Supplemental oxygen was discontinued, ... "

It's worth reading the case history in its entirety, which describes in detail the progression of the illness in the patient and steps taken by the hospital. This is the first time I've seen a detailed account and AFAIK there haven't been any others yet.

Initially the patient appeared to have a light case but then took quite a bad turn.

Yeah, it's a bit scary. What I'm not sure about is how much the remdesivir helped with the recovery (and how) or if he would have recovered anyway.

Understood. The fact that the patient took that bad turn and then immediately recovered after taking remdesivir is very suggestive. If his case stayed light throughout then yeah it would have been hard to tell. BTW remdesivir is highly anticipated to be the candidate drug so this is not totally unexpected. The other good thing is that it has already been tested on human subjects (for Ebola with ineffective result) so it is known to be relatively safe.

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