Coronavirus and ibuprofen: WHO addresses the warning

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Plainol


Plain ol acetominophen [brand name=Tylenol} seems to be the safest.

Link to tweet

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Coronavirus and ibuprofen: WHO addresses the warning

By Pioneer Press | [e-mail]
PUBLISHED: March 20, 2020 at 10:50 a.m. | UPDATED: March 20, 2020 at 10:51 a.m.


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Batting down rumors, the World Health Organization says it does not recommend against the use of ibuprofen to treat COVID-19 symptoms — though medical experts say that until more research is conducted it’s better to start with acetominophen for pain and fever reduction.

After posts swirled on social media that ibuprofen could worsen the effects of the novel coronavirus, the WHO said in a tweet: “Based on currently available information, WHO does not recommend against the use of ibuprofen.”

Confusion over whether ibuprofen could be used to treat symptoms of the coronavirus stemmed in part from recent statements by French health officials. Health Minister Oliver Veran warned last week against using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

The most common of those drugs is ibuprofen, the active ingredient in Motrin and Advil. Aleve uses another NSAID, naproxen.

The French warnings instead advised the use of paracetamol, which is known in the United States as acetominophen. It is the active ingredient in Tylenol........................................

[Princess Turandot]

1. Live Science had a decent article on this...

The French health minister was referring to a letter submission to Lancet. Subsequent to his comments, the researchers added a statement on how to interpret their letter, which puts forth what the authors say is a hypothesis that is 'information for researchers, not patients' that 'does not constitute a recommendation to use certain drugs or not.'

Live Science: Should you take ibuprofen if you have COVID-19?

There's a lot of speculation but very little data to say one way or another.

The health minister's warning was based on a recent letter published in the journal The Lancet that suggested such anti-inflammatory drugs boost the body's production of an enzyme that sits on the cell's surface, known as ACE2. The coronavirus hijacks these ACE2 receptors to enter human cells.The authors hypothesized that drugs that spur the body to produce more of this enzyme would allow the virus to infect more cells, which in turn could increase the risk of developing "severe and fatal" COVID-19.

"The only problem is they offer no proof that this actually occurs," Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University in New York, wrote on Twitter. "And this hypothesis relies on several major assumptions that may not be true."