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COVID-19 Symptoms
COVID-19 Symptoms

HIV Medication for COVID-19

Lopinavir-Ritonavir is an HIV medication. This drug is an HIV protease inhibitor that lessens the amount of HIV in your body. By lessening the HIV in your body, this helps improve your quality of life.
HIV is a virus that damages your immune system and is a lifelong condition. But, it is possible to manage HIV and live with the virus for many years. The immune system helps the body fight off infections. The virus does not spread in air or water or by a causal contact. Without treatment, a person with HIV is likely to develop a serious condition called AIDS. The immune system is too weak to fight off other diseases and infections. If left untreated, life expectancy with AIDS is about 3 years. AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV. It is a disease that can develop in people with HIV. But just because a person has HIV doesn’t mean they will develop AIDS.

How does Lopinavir-Ritonavir work in HIV?
A small amount of Ritonavir slows the breakdown of Lopinavir by the liver which makes it stay in the body for longer. This boosts its level in the blood and effect against the virus.
AIDS is caused by infection with HIV. This virus invades cells of the immune system particularly the white blood cells known as CD4 T-helper lymphocytes. These cells usually activate other cells in the immune system to fight infection. Since HIV kills CD4 T-helper cells, the body cannot fight the virus or subsequent infections.
Once the virus is inside the CD4 T-cell it multiplies and produces numerous copies of itself. An enzyme produced by HIV, called protease plays an important role in this process. Protease breaks up the new protein produced by the virus. It is to let the new copies of the virus be assembled from the pieces. If this enzyme is stopped from working, any new virus that is produced is faulty and unable to infect more CD4 cells. Protease inhibitors like Lopinavir and Ritonavir stop the protease enzyme from working.

Lopinavir-Ritonavir for COVID-19
Medical authorities have used this prescription to have a study for the treatment of COVID-19. They have conducted a random, controlled, and open-label trial which involves hospitalized adults patients with confirmed COVID-19. A total of 199 patients underwent randomization, 99 of them went to Lopinavir-Ritonavir group. As a result, there was no benefit was observed with this prescription. There were only gastrointestinal adverse events that were more common in the Lopinavir-Ritonavir group.

COVID-19 has symptoms including:
– Shortness of breath
– Dry cough
– Fever

The symptoms range from mild to severe. It takes 2-14 days after exposure for symptoms to develop.
A coronavirus is a virus found in animals and rarely can be transmitted from animals to humans. Bats are considered natural hosts of these viruses yet several other species of animals are also known to act as sources. The spread of the virus is person to person. It is mainly transmitted through small respiratory droplets by coughing, sneezing, or people interact with each other.