Methylprednisolone for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Was Benjamin Rush Prescient?

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Jeffrey Lennox, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-05-04
• Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa1262
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
• Volume: 72
• Issue: 9
• Start Page: E382
• End Page: E383
• Keywords: Microbiology; methylprednisolone; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Infectious Diseases; Immunology; corticosteroid; remdesivir; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; Science & Technology
• Research Categories: Biology, Microbiology; Health Sciences, Immunology

Abstract

To excel in the practice of medicine is to master the skill of swimming through waves of uncertainty. When treating a patient how certain is the diagnosis? If the diagnosis is certain, is there a treatment that is better than all others? If there is a proven treatment, was it studied in this population, with this patient’s comorbidities? Add to these typical factors a unique viral pandemic, and the size and frequency of the uncertainty waves become magnified. Physicians in 2020 must decide whether to try treatments that may have been tested against other viral pathogens, including the other two coronaviruses that have appeared in the two decades. Until clinical trials of therapies for Covid-19 are complete, navigating these choices feels somewhat like swimming in the dark.