Trump treated with Dexamethasone to boost oxygen level

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• On Sunday, President Donald Trump was given an initial dose of dexamethasone, a steroid medicine to treat COVID-19, after contracting the virus last Friday.
• Aside from dexamethasone, Trump received several drugs such as experimental COVID-19 medicine from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and two doses of the antiviral drug remdesivir.
• According to Dr. Bob Wachter, Trump “remains at high risk” even his medical team said that he was in good condition.

White House physician Sean Conley revealed on Sunday that President Donald Trump was given an initial dose of a steroid called dexamethasone to help cope with COVID-19.

Hours following his admission that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the virus, the president was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Center on Friday.

Aside from one dose of dexamethasone, Trump received the following drugs ━ a single infusion of an experimental COVID-19 treatment made by the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and two doses of Remdesivir, an antiviral drug allowed by the Food and Drug Administration to be used for emergency purposes to hospitalized patients.

According to the Mayo Clinic, dexamethasone is a cheap, available-to-public steroid that caters relief against inflammation. The drug is used as a treatment to conditions like arthritis, allergic reactions, breathing problems, and skin diseases.

In May, UK scientists announced that a clinical trial showed dexamethasone improved the survival rate for severely-ill coronavirus patients.

The infusion of the steroid was randomly given to 2,104 out of 4,321 patients and was administered via oral or intravenous.

The scientists claimed that dexamethasone lowered the fatality rate by 35 percent in patients with breathing machines, and by 20 percent for those who needed supplemental oxygen.

However, for less ill patients, the steroid appeared to be ineffective. Based on the trial, patients who did not require respiratory but administered with the dexamethasone had a higher fatality rate than patients who did not take it.

Despite Trump’s medical team announcement on Sunday that he is doing “very well,” some health professionals suggested that he could still have a long way to recover with his dexamethasone treatment.

In response to the Sunday’s announcement, Dr. Bob Wachter, chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, wrote on Twitter that Trump may look “stable, but remains at high risk.” 

The Mayo Clinic said that the typical side effects of dexamethasone are aggression, anxiety, irritability, mental depression, mood changes, and trouble thinking.

Source: AOL.com