Dr. Connell shares thoughts on COVID-19

A local doctor believes that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will evolve as a virus that will require a cocktail of drugs to treat it.

That’s the view of Dr. Kenneth Connell, Associate Professor in Clinical Pharmacology, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus; President of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados and Chairman of the Barbados Drug Formulary Committee, who said that if such does prove to be the case, it would not be unusual. He made the comments as he took part in the Sagicor Cave Hill School of Business Webinar on the topic, “COVID 19 – Discussing The Virus, Threats and Impact”, while stating that he is however optimistic about the use of remdesivir, for which a trial has shown promising results in treating the virus.

“If we compare things like HIV for instance, a cocktail of drugs are used to treat it and this is because you are kind of attacking the virus at various points. And so if you have something that decreases hospitalisation by about four days, then if you add a second drug to it maybe it drops it by a week, all those kinds of things are important,” he said.

Dr. Connell’s remarks came as he noted that the virus is behaving completely different from other viruses – it has a bias to certain people who are vulnerable and appears to be attacking every single system. He made the point while noting that as we learn about the virus, more symptoms are being added to the list.

“What this really says is that we don’t know the extent of the disease description or the symptomology of the disease. So breathlessness and cough was thought to be a cardinal pair of symptoms, as well as a fever; but we know that many people now don’t have the fever, we also know that other things can be associated with it, such as the loss of taste or scent, which is not unusual for a viral infection,” he added.

Connell, who is a Consultant Internist and Clinical Pharmacologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, continued: “And now we know that strange presentations can occur – like this group of young people who present with stroke... That’s not typical of a viral infection, of course now we seem to have an explanation.

The Internist went on to talk about the impact of COVID-19 on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), lamenting that the pandemic has magnified the epidemic of NCDs. With that in mind, he said while there is an initial immune response to the virus, and most people cope very well, around day seven to ten something happens that triggers the immune system. Reflecting on that, he warned that unless persons have “strong reserves” – strong heart and a strong pair of kidneys – then they are not going to get past the lung problem that develops.

“So although you are on a ventilator which is meant to take control of your breathing and allow your lungs to heal, you kind of need a strong heart and kidneys to get past that. If you have hypertension, then your cardiac reserve is less, therefore you are less likely to win that war, although you may have won the earlier battle against the virus,” he explained. (JRT)