Positive Health Online

Abstract

DING and COLLEAGUES, 1 Key Laboratory of Combinatorial Biosynthesis and Drug Discovery, Ministry of Education, Wuhan University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China;  2 Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; 3 Department of anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China; 4 Department of Respiratory Diseases, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China; 5 Department of Medical Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts;          6 Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; 7 Department of Microbiology & Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York research and report the case of the use of glycyrrhetinic acid and its derivatives as potential alternative medicine to relieve symptoms in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Background

SARS-CoV-2 is highly infectious, and infection by this virus results in COVID-19, manifesting predominantly symptoms in the lower respiratory system. Detection of viral genomic materials by RT-PCR is the gold standard for diagnosis.

Methodology

Suspected COVID-19 patients who had a documented history of exposure and exhibited symptoms, but did not have positive PCR test results, were generally self-quarantined with prescriptions aiming to help attenuate their symptoms. These prescriptions are however neither specific nor highly effective for COVID-19 treatment. Given the rapidly growing pandemic and the overwhelmed medical system, the number of self-quarantined patients is increasing.

Results

There is an urgent need of alternative medicine to help patients relieve symptoms during self-quarantine, and to potentially help increase their chances of survival and recovery from the infection. We report here a case of severe COVID-19 that never had a positive PCR test result during disease progression but was confirmed with antibody test post recovery. This patient was self-quarantined and received diammonium glycyrrhizinate (DG), a steroid-like molecule, in combination with vitamin C as alternative medicine.

Conclusion

This patient went through severe COVID-19 but eventually recovered upon the implementation of this treatment regimen, suggesting potential therapeutic effects of diammonium glycyrrhizinate (DG) as alternative medicine to help relieve COVID-19 symptoms. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

References

Hong Ding  1 , Wenjun Deng  2 , Lingling Ding  3 , Xiaoqun Ye  4 , Shanye Yin  5 , Weishan Huang  6   7. Glycyrrhetinic acid and its derivatives as potential alternative medicine to relieve symptoms in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients. J Med Virol.;92(10):2200-2204. doi: 10.1002/jmv.26064. Epub Jun 5 2020 . Oct 2020.