In search of COVID-19 solution

By Anyanwu Chinedu K.

Nigeria urgently needs a medical solution to the crises caused by Corona virus disease. Stay-at-home order, social distancing and personal hygiene approach currently in force are laudable; but additional steps are required to conclusively bring the menace of the virus to an end. In as much as there is, so far, no vaccine or globally accepted cure for the dreaded disease, research findings point to meaningful facts about how we can try out a local remedy with global significance. What is to be suggested here is not totally a new concept but a new approach using an existing idea or knowledge.

Use of chloroquine has been suggested by doctors that have experimented its use in treatment of COVID-19 in China and France. Chloroquine is a well-known drug used to treat malaria and some other ailments. We recall that the Corona virus is an organism with outer layer made of lipids (fat). Studies have revealed that a valid way to destroy the virus is by subjecting it to substances that disintegrate the fatty substances covering it. This is why common things like soap or alcohol-based sanitizers (65% alcohol) kill the virus. But once the virus has gotten into the human body, how to speedily deal with the virus and kick it out becomes the issue yet to be conclusively resolved.

Chloroquine, by its formulation, is a weak base (alkaline) that diffuses into lysosomes and raise the PH level in the cell. When this happens, viruses that require acidic environment to flourish will begin to stunt and become subdued. Intuitive inferences based on reports indicate that Corona Virus (COVID-19), is one of those viruses that thrive on acidic environment, hence the efficacy of chloroquine in treating it.

Evidence abound to show that chloroquine is the therapy for corona virus and can become the game changer. There are two prongs to this: treating the infected person and preventing the uninfected person from getting the infection. That is curative and prophylactic therapy. In approaching this issue, there could be a curative dosage as well as a prophylactic dosage as defined prescriptions as possible options for the fight against the disease.

What we are currently not doing right is that we are treating the confirmed infected person and are waiting for the virus to manifest on the presumed uninfected person and then we begin to treat the newly infected person. Unfortunately, before the virus manifests in the newly infected person within two weeks, it has spread beyond a coverage that is easily imagined. This is absolutely reactionary.

Given the behavioural pattern of the virus and the way it spreads, any community or nation that wants to halt or beat the virus must be a step ahead of it. If you allow the virus to be on the same pace with you, the virus is faster and will overrun the community. Mass action approach is required in dealing with the crisis. This approach means administering chloroquine to everyone at the same time for a given duration that will almost eradicate the disease. As stated earlier, confirmed infected persons will be given curative doses. Others will be given prophylactic doses. Along the line, a third category of persons might emerge and that is the asymptomatic infected persons. These individuals may not have been tested and they are not showing any signs of infection. In this case, the prophylactic dose may be able to tackle the virus and if it does not, the symptoms will eventually manifest and curative treatment will be administered. This is without prejudice to the other antibiotic and multivitamin combinations that will be given to a confirmed infected person.

This suggestion can be illustrated with a hypothetical country of 20 individuals. Assuming three persons are confirmed to be infected and are in isolation receiving treatment. We assume that four persons have contacted the virus and without any symptoms. Since they have not been tested, nobody is aware of their health status and they are in their communities interacting freely with others. As they do so, large number of people are coming in contact with the virus and transferring it from one person to the other. The assumption is that the other 13 persons are yet to contract the disease. If the mass action approach is taken, and everyone is given chloroquine therapy, the infected will recover, the yet to be infected will be fine. If the therapy is taken for a period of, say, five days, the human to human transmission will be curtailed significantly.

A point to note is that we need to take a proactive step in tackling this public health emergency. The benefit is that we can come out of this crisis soon. Fortunately, chloroquine is not a new drug that requires rigorous testing before it can be used by a human. One may wonder how many Nigerians above age of 25 that have not taken chloroquine in the past to treat malaria. Chloroquine tablet is cheap and affordable. It is known that chloroquine has side effects, such as itching, on many. As it is in practice, such persons will be required to use Piriton. As much as we can argue over the issue of chloroquine therapy in combating COVID-19, the benefits far outweigh the risks or side effects as the case may be.

The side effect of chloroquine is for a short period and it is reversible. Adopting the chloroquine treatment does not make us worse off as a nation neither as individuals. So, what do we stand to lose if we take this approach?

Nigeria has a large number of pharmaceutical companies that can urgently produce chloroquine tablets for this purpose to meet the quantities needed by the population. Production and distribution may not pose a great challenge if the government pays attention to it.

In conclusion, the emergency situation created by the rapidly spreading Corona Virus does not allow the usual 18-month clinical trial period for meaningful and verifiable actions to be taken to end the scourge of COVID-19. Nigeria does not need to strictly tow the line of copying what is done abroad. We can be innovative in addressing the pandemic issue. Even if the suggestion made herein does not work, there must be homemade initiatives that can work. Notwithstanding the stay-at-home order, social distancing and personal hygiene measures in place, the number of infected persons have been growing geometrically. The situation has gotten terribly bad in USA, Europe and Asia. They also did social distancing, personal hygiene and expansive lockdown. In Wuhan, China, lockdown lasted two and half months. As the infection may soon get to community transmission stage in Nigeria, one will not want to imagine the duration of lockdown that will bring about a break in transmission of the virus.

A dangerous aspect of protracted lockdown and all attention focused on COVID-19 is that people with other medical conditions and diseases may die out of inadequate medical attention and care. Hunger will also devastate a large number of people. We know that a huge proportion of Nigerians live from hand to mouth.

• Anyanwu writes via ckanyanwu@yahoo.com