A Systematic Literature Review of Current Therapeutic Approaches for COVID-19 Patients
Saber Soltani
Department of Virology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, Research Center for Clinical Virology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran and Students’ Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Amir Mohammad Zakeri
Pediatric Surgery Research Center, Research Institute for Children’s Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mohammad Reza Karimi
Research Center for Clinical Virology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Sara Akhavan Rezayat
Department of Health Care Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Fateme Zomorodi Anbaji
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, School of Biology College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Alireza Tabibzadeh
Department of Virology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Parastoo Yousefi
Department of Virology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Armin Zakeri
Department of Hematology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Ali Jafarpour
Department of Virology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mehdi Norouzi
Department of Virology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Yousef Erfani
Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Tehran University Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Vahdat Poortahmasebi *
Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran,Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran and Department of Bacteriology and Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Background: In December 2019, the pneumonia outbreak reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. WHO introduced a novel coronavirus and the virus named Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in January 2020. There are not any specific antiviral agents for coronavirus disease 19 (COVID‐19).
Objective: Our review aimed to discuss treatment options and the efficacy of currently prescribed drugs and supportive care in COVID‐19 patients.
Study Design: A literature review of the articles in the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and EMBASE conducted.
Results: Lopinavir/ritonavir combination was the most frequently used drug, followed by Arbidol and Oseltamivir and Methylprednisolone. Lopinavir/Ritonavir outcome showed the fever and respiratory infection improve in day two and day eight, respectively. Also, negative PCR of SARS‐CoV‐2 in days six and 7day was seen and finally these patients discharged in 10 days.
Conclusions: Lopinavir/Ritonavir was the most improving administrated antiviral combination, which might be a good option for COVID-19 due to its availability. Although supportive care such as O2 supplementary and IV fluid therapy has improved outcomes. There are not evidence for suggesting a new treatment or a new drug, which mean the necessity of further investigations for drug research in a clinical trial for a conclusion about the optimum treatment.
Keywords: Coronavirus, SARS virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2, COVID-19, antiviral agents, drug therapy, therapeutics