NEW YORK, July 15 – Among the many edges that scientists are looking to find a way to counter COVID-19, is looking at how it controls human metabolism to infect the body.
In this way, new research suggests that a drug could reduce coronavirus to a “common cold, ” by preventing the pathogen from spreading in the lungs.
According to Chinese news agency; Xinhua, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York found that Fenofibrate prevents large amounts of fat from accumulating in lung cells, a condition that the virus needs to reproduce.
Fenofibrate is used to lower cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood by speeding up the body’s natural processes to eliminate them. It is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
According to the agency, this would be one of the reasons why patients with high levels of glucose and cholesterol in the blood are more severely affected by COVID-19. Unlike parasites, viruses cannot replicate on their own, so they take control of certain human cells to spread. By understanding how the coronavirus performs this task, ” we can wrest control of the virus and deprive it of the resources it needs to survive, ” the researchers explained.
Side Effects
In the tests carried out by the research, published in the journal Cell Press Sneak Peak, after five days of treatment Fenofibrate allowed the lung cells to burn more fat , with which the virus lost control over them and lost reproductive capacity.
“This route of treatment could potentially reduce the severity of the virus to something no more serious than the common cold,” cites the news agency report.
However, Fenofibrate should not be consumed without the prescription and observation of a doctor, as it can cause serious side effects such as fever, back pain, shortness of breath, coughing up blood, difficulty swallowing, and swelling.
