Beat That Bug!
" Lots of encouraging treatment news, for once. Then onward to vaccines, of course, with a variant detour and a Godly coda. " Nip it in the bud The Gout (James Gillray, 1799) Colchicine : Used to treat gout since the time of the Pharaohs , this drug is claimed to reduce “hospitalizations by 25%, the need for mechanical ventilation by 50%, and deaths by 44%” in high-risk COVID-19 outpatients, as compared with placebo. A preprint of the manuscript reveals that the results are only just barely statistically significant, but it’s big news nonetheless – colchicine is the very first oral medication to show any benefit. My skeptometer reading is for once relatively low, because by now we’re used to finding novel targets for this ancient drug, from pericarditis to canker sores. And after 3500 years there will be no surprise side effects. I’ll prescribe colchicine for my next patient with COVID-19. Oral or injected corti...