Can Nitazoxanide and/or other anti‐viral medications be a solution to long COVID? Case report with a brief literature review

Abstract

Key Clinical MessageFindings here imply lingering of virus, SARS‐CoV‐2, in the body for months. Thus, Nitazoxanide and/or other anti‐viral medications might be potential options to combat long COVID. This could transform treatment for long COVID patients globally.AbstractLong COVID or post‐acute sequelae of COVID‐19 (PASC) continues to affect many people even after a relatively mild acute illness. Underlying causes of PASC are poorly understood. There is no particular treatment or management program developed yet. Thus, the possibility of well‐known, safe anti‐viral medications use against PASC is proposed here.

Acyclovir May Be Used to Treat Certain Long COVID Patients Regardless of Herpesvirus Reactivation: Case Report

“…Patient-Y described here is one of the rare presentations of PASC lasting for ~12 months in a normally healthy and athletic individual, considering PASC is observed in immunocompromised individuals more frequently (Davis et al, 2023;Stewart, 2023;Morone et al, 2020;Gaebler et al, 2021). The immediate recovery of Patient-Y after Acyclovir treatment implies a potential use of existing, available, cost-effective, safe anti-viral medication, for PASC sufferers to help speed up recovery (Stewart, 2023). The findings here are incidental and this study is a retrospective and descriptive review of this patient's clinical records with his consent.…”

“…This is the first time full recovery of an immunocompetent PASC patient by using solely Acyclovir for only 7 days reported after ~12 months of PASC suffering. Using antiviral medications as a potential solution to PASC was recently published (Stewart, 2023): Parts of this patient's data (Patient-Y) was included in the discussion and supplementary material of that article after receiving his consent (Stewart, 2023). The present report focuses exclusively on Patient-Y and highlights the potential Acyclovir use for PASC more explicitly while evaluating herpesviruses' reactivation significance during COVID-19 and PASC in the discussion.…”

“…1. While most patients recover after the acute infection within a few weeks, over 65 million individuals, based on 10% of world-wide documented COVID-19 cases, continue to suffer from symptoms for many months (Davis et al, 2023;Stewart, 2023;Su et al, 2022). This is recognized as long COVID or Post-Acute Sequelae of .…”

“…This is recognized as long COVID or Post-Acute Sequelae of . Persistence of the virus (or its fragments) in certain tissues, hyperinflammation due to COVID-19 immune dysregulation with or without latent viruses reactivation, autoimmunity, microvascular dysfunction, gut microbiome disturbance, and microcoagulation are among the main hypotheses for underlying PASC pathophysiology (Davis et al, 2023;Stewart, 2023;Su et al, 2022). Another theory involves SARS-CoV-2 hiding in various tissues, remaining dormant after apparent recovery from COVID-19 to be reactivated due to stress or a weakened immune system akin to latent viruses (Heidary et al, 2021).…”

“…Another theory involves SARS-CoV-2 hiding in various tissues, remaining dormant after apparent recovery from COVID-19 to be reactivated due to stress or a weakened immune system akin to latent viruses (Heidary et al, 2021). Complications can lead to multisystem disorders, with potential damage to almost every organ and subsequently to new onset of cardiovascular, thrombotic and/or cerebrovascular conditions besides type-2 diabetes, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), dysautonomia and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (Davis et al, 2023;Stewart, 2023;Su et al, 2022).…”