{"id":25806,"date":"2020-03-31T11:25:18","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T07:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=25806"},"modified":"2020-03-31T11:25:18","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T07:25:18","slug":"how-can-i-treat-myself-if-ive-got-or-think-ive-got-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/how-can-i-treat-myself-if-ive-got-or-think-ive-got-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"How can I treat myself if I\u2019ve got \u2013 or think I\u2019ve got \u2013 coronavirus?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may have a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, or just suspect you have it. Either way, if you have mild to moderate symptoms, treat them as you would with any other cold or flu<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

New cases of the coronavirus are reported every day, and as yet there\u2019s no vaccine. So what treatments are available if you\u2019re one of the unlucky ones who gets infected?<\/span><\/p>\n

If your symptoms are mild, you should treat them the same way you would a cold or flu.<\/span><\/p>\n

A spectrum of severity<\/span><\/h4>\n

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is\u00a0one of hundreds of viruses\u00a0that cause colds and flu symptoms in humans.<\/span><\/p>\n

The infection ranges in severity from almost silent (asymptomatic), to a mild cold, all the way to lung and organ failure. The symptoms may be worse than a normal cold or flu\u00a0because this coronavirus is new\u00a0(or \u201cnovel\u201d) to our species and we haven\u2019t built up herd immunity to it yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

But current estimates suggest\u00a0about 80% of cases\u00a0will have relatively mild to moderate illness.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re one of these, you might not know for sure whether you have COVID-19, as you may not be eligible for testing. It\u2019s important you self-isolate if you\u2019re unwell regardless.<\/span><\/p>\n

But from the perspective of treatment, if your illness is reasonably mild, it doesn\u2019t really matter whether you have a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

So how do I treat the symptoms?<\/span><\/h4>\n

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the\u00a0most common symptoms\u00a0of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, a sore throat or diarrhoea.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most bothersome symptoms tend to be fever and muscle pains. You can safely treat these with paracetamol.<\/span><\/p>\n

The WHO initially recommended people with COVID-19 avoid taking ibuprofen to relieve symptoms. But\u00a0it retracted that advice\u00a0days later, so it seems reasonable to also consider using anti-inflammatory drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can treat nasal congestion with decongestants and nasal saline. Effective treatments for\u00a0a sore throat\u00a0include honey, salt water gargles, and sore throat sprays or gargles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>Look to the same kind of remedies you would if you were sick with a regular cold or flu.<\/span>\u00a0Shutterstock<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Cough is a more difficult symptom to control, but you may be able to improve it with honey, steam inhalations and saline nose sprays. Cough suppressants have\u00a0only minimal benefit\u00a0in reducing a dry cough.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to\u00a0support your immune system, particularly with rest and a healthy diet.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s some evidence zinc lozenges\u00a0may shorten the duration\u00a0of some colds and flus, including COVID-19. But this evidence is conflicting and not of high quality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there\u2019s no convincing evidence beyond the placebo effect for a range of other common treatments, such a\u00a0vitamin C\u00a0and\u00a0echinacea. But these are unlikely to cause harm.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t try this at home<\/span><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s important not to take medicines that haven\u2019t been approved for the treatment of colds and flus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anecdotal reports and a small case series of\u00a0patients in China\u00a0have suggested a role for the antimalarial drug chloroquine in treating COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n

Further clinical trials of this drug are currently underway, but at this stage it\u2019s\u00a0recommended as treatment\u00a0only in COVID-19 cases complicated by viral or bacterial pneumonia, and under the guidance of medical professionals.<\/span><\/p>\n

One HIV antiviral combination drug, lopinavir-ritonavir, seemed promising. But it\u00a0failed to make a significant difference\u00a0in 199 patients with COVID-19 in China.<\/span><\/p>\n

So there are no effective curative treatments as yet, but clinical trials of different antiviral agents are continuing.<\/span><\/p>\n

While lots of information about prevention and treatments for coronavirus is circulating online, a good rule of thumb is if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re unsure about anything, look to reliable sources like the\u00a0Australian government\u00a0or the\u00a0WHO, or consult a doctor.<\/span><\/p>\n

What about people with more serious illness?<\/span><\/h4>\n

About five to seven days after the onset of symptoms,\u00a0some patients\u00a0develop shortness of breath and trouble breathing, which will require medical attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortness of breath occurs when pneumonia develops, causing a buildup of thick mucus in the lungs that blocks the transfer of oxygen into the blood vessels.<\/span><\/p>\n

If your condition deteriorates, call ahead to a doctor or hospital and inform them of your COVID-19 status. If you\u2019re experiencing severe symptoms, such as shortness of breath, call an ambulance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>If your symptoms are more severe, you might need treatment in hospital.<\/span>\u00a0Shutterstock<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

How long before I\u2019m not infectious anymore?<\/span><\/h4>\n

If you\u2019re hospitalised with COVID-19, you will remain in isolation until you\u2019re no longer experiencing symptoms and a test confirms you\u2019re no longer infectious.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a group of hospitalised patients in China, the\u00a0average duration\u00a0of virus still detected in the respiratory tract was 20 days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mild cases, however, have a shorter duration of illness, and the virus clears more quickly from their bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Australian\u00a0guidelines\u00a0state that cases with a mild illness not requiring hospitalisation can end their self-isolation if they meet these two criteria:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • at least ten days have passed since the onset of symptoms<\/span><\/li>\n
  • all symptoms of acute illness have been resolved for the previous 72 hours.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    \n

    David King<\/span>
    \n<\/strong>Sewnior Lecturer
    \n<\/strong>The University of Queensland<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n

    * Published in print edition on <\/em>30 March 2020<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      You may have a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, or just suspect you have it. Either way, if you have mild to moderate symptoms, treat them as you would with any other cold or flu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":25807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8348],"tags":[21808,22005,8362,23065,23116],"class_list":["post-25806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-conversation","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-flu","tag-sars-cov-2","tag-treatment"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/flu.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QzSF-6Ie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}