16 Jun 2020 Jahr - Dramatic Covid-19 breakthrough

Beschreibung:

NHS hospitals advised to start using dexamethasone after dramatic Covid breakthrough.

Scientists have hailed a “huge breakthrough” against Covid-19 after a cheap drug emerged as the first to save lives.

Dexamethasone, a decades-old steroid that costs about 50p per patient per day, was found to reduce deaths by up to one-third among the illest patients. NHS hospitals were advised to begin using it immediately.

The Oxford University researchers said that up to 5,000 deaths could have been prevented in Britain if it had been administered to the sickest patients from the start of the pandemic.

It had the biggest benefit on the most seriously ill, cutting deaths among those on ventilators by a third. It was also found to reduce deaths by one fifth for patients who required oxygen but did not need to be mechanically. (The Times)