The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research on Thursday warned that indiscriminate use of steroids by COVID-19 positive patients in initial stages before admission to the hospital may increase the severity of the disease. The experts at the PGIMER have observed that recently the seriousness of the COVID-19 patients coming to the hospitals has increased. One of the reasons may be indiscriminate use of steroids in the initial, mild or asymptomatic patients. Steroid is not recommended for patients who do not require oxygen therapy, they said. It has been observed by experts that indiscriminate use of steroids in mild or initial stages of COVID disease can exaggerate the infection. The PGIMER doctors thus appealed to the citizens with COVID symptoms not to take steroids too early without medical prescription.

The Nehru Hospital Extension at PGIMER is a COVID dedicated institute where 150 COVID patients are admitted as on October 8. Out of them, 50 belonged to Chandigarh, 62 belonged to Punjab, 15 belonged to Haryana,13 belonged to Himachal Pradesh and 10 from other states. The ‘Recovery Trial’ published from England has shown that steroids given in early stages of COVID-19 i.e. when a patient is not requiring oxygen, can increase the mortality and morbidity of the COVID patients. Steroids should be started in COVID patients only when they are requiring oxygen therapy and that also preferably after admission to the hospital under the supervision of an experienced physician, the study stated.

Notably, the US President Donald Trump is being treated for COVID-19 with a steroid that is recommended for severe cases of the illness and that comes with risks of serious side effects, including mood swings, aggression and confusion.

The development has once again triggered a debate on the use of steroid and its side effects on COVID patients.

While steroids are seen as the go-to-drug that the doctors are prescribing to COVID patients, the experts also observed that the recovered patients come back with some kind of side effects to the steroids.

2ND PHASE OF HUMAN CLINICAL TRIALS OF OXFORD VACCINE GOING WELL AT PGIMER

Chandigarh: The PGIMER on Thursday said that the second phase of human clinical trials of Covishield, the potential vaccine developed by the Oxford University, is going well here at the institute which is listed as one of the 17 trial sites for conducting the second and third phases of human clinical trials.

“Till date, 97 volunteers have been screened. Of them, 65 volunteers have already been vaccinated since September 25 when PGIMER started administering the first dose of the vaccine to the volunteers. Among 65 volunteers given first dose, 53 participants have already completed 7 days post vaccination without any major side effects,” said an official spokesperson

There will be a participation of around 250 individuals in the clinical trial and the PGIMER will assess immunogenicity along with the safety of the vaccine.