Prevention of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreaks With Nitazoxanide
Keywords
Abstract
Description
Coronaviruses (CoV) are positive-stranded single-stranded RNA viruses that infect a wide range of hosts. The new coronavirus outbreak has led to a public health emergency of international concern, putting all health organizations on high alert.
The accelerated spread pushed physicians to try a variety of treatments without an established sequence due to ignorance of the disease. As part of the hygienic measures, isolation and reinforcement cleaning strategies have been followed. With current epidemiological data, it is known that special attention and efforts should be applied to reduce the transmission in susceptible populations, including the elderly or those with comorbidities. On the other hand it has also been proposed a semaforization to classify the severity of COVID-19 cases.
Nitazoxanide, a drug with antibacterial and anti-protozoal effects, has also powerful antiviral effects through the phosphorylation of protein-kinase activated by double-stranded RNA, which leads to an increase in phosphorylated factor 2-alpha, an intracellular protein with antiviral effects. This drug has been effective in vitro against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome by Coronavirus (MERS), both produced by other coronavirus.
Currently all the efforts in the world have been focused on the treatment of COVID-19 since there is pneumonia, the patient being in hospitalization and even in intensive care units. Probably, focusing on these late stages has distracted the attention of the initial stage, this means early treatment to prevent the evolution to critical clinical conditions.
It is hypothesized that the use of nitazoxanide at an early stage of COVID-19 could decrease the contagious outbreaks of this virus in health workers, and at the same time will reduce the community dissemination and evolution of cases requiring intensive care units.
Dates
| Last Verified: | 04/30/2020 |
| First Submitted: | 05/23/2020 |
| Estimated Enrollment Submitted: | 05/26/2020 |
| First Posted: | 05/27/2020 |
| Last Update Submitted: | 05/26/2020 |
| Last Update Posted: | 05/27/2020 |
| Actual Study Start Date: | 05/20/2020 |
| Estimated Primary Completion Date: | 12/30/2020 |
| Estimated Study Completion Date: | 12/30/2020 |
Condition or disease
Intervention/treatment
Drug: Nitazoxanide early treatment
Phase
Arm Groups
| Arm | Intervention/treatment |
|---|---|
| Experimental: Nitazoxanide early treatment Health workers with symptoms of COVID-19 not requiring hospitalization will receive an early treatment with nitazoxanide. | Drug: Nitazoxanide early treatment Health workers affected by SARS-CoV-2 will receive the next doses of nitazoxanide: 500 mg every 6 hour for two days and then every 12 hours for four days. |
Eligibility Criteria
| Ages Eligible for Study | 18 Years To 18 Years |
| Sexes Eligible for Study | All |
| Accepts Healthy Volunteers | Yes |
| Criteria | Inclusion Criteria: - COVID-19 positive patients by clinical criteria. Exclusion Criteria: - Patients who have inherent contraindications to nitazoxanide. - Patients with inflammatory bowel disease. |
Outcome
Primary Outcome Measures
1. Health workers that require hospitalization [Two weeks since the begining of symptoms]
