Rutgers scholar Fredric Wondisford is available to discuss how dexamethasone can be used to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients following a study in the United Kingdom that found the steroid drug reduced the number of deaths.

“The preliminary results from this non-peer-reviewed study are not surprising given the overwhelming inflammation found in COVID-19 patients and the potency of dexamethasone, which is a cortisol used in treating autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and certain blood cancers like leukemia,” said Wondisford, professor of medicine at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine. “What is unknown and potentially problematic from a public health perspective is whether dexamethasone would be helpful in all stages of the COVID-19 infection because it can also compromise the body’s ability to fight a viral infection.”

“The public should be advised that dexamethasone has a powerful and generalized suppressive effect on the body’s immune system and has been only shown to help COVID 19 patients on a ventilator or oxygen potentially."

 

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