Should You Take an Antiviral to Prevent Long COVID?

The only guaranteed way to prevent Long COVID is to avoid getting infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Recently, however, researchers have found promising signs that certain drugs may reduce the risk of developing Long COVID if they’re taken shortly after infection. Those studies are preliminary, but they raise an intriguing question: Should everyone who gets COVID-19 take medication in hopes of avoiding Long COVID? Here’s what experts say. Which drugs might prevent Long COVID? Studies have recently highlighted two promising drugs: Paxlovid and metformin. Paxlovid is an antiviral authorized to treat COVID-19 among people at high risk of severe disease, including elderly adults and people with underlying health conditions. Last year, researchers found that high-risk people who took Paxlovid within five days of testing positive for COVID-19 were 26% less likely to have Long COVID symptoms after 90 days, compared to people who weren’t treated. On Mar. 23, the same researchers published updated data in JAMA Internal Medicine. Among a larger group of high-risk people who were tracked for six months—more than 35,000 of whom took Paxlovid—the drug showed the same reduction in risk. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Metformin, meanwhile, is not a classic antiviral; it’s long been approved as a Type 2 diabetes treatment. But studies suggest that it may have antiviral properties, potentially limiting SARS-CoV-2’s a...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID Questions COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news