Science and Antibiotic Usage Against COVID-19

Science is never a settled thing.  Our understanding is constantly evolving.  New scientific studies alter previous results. 

Take the example of postmenopausal estrogen use.  Based on statistics that postmenopausal women have less heart disease and cancer, there was a period of time when this therapy was more commonplace.  This was a number of years ago.  After a few years, the follow-up study showed that there was an increased incidence of these diseases in this group.  The practice was altered.

What treats a virus? A virus is not a living organism.  But we do have effective antiviral medicines.  These have been successfully used to treat such diseases as AIDS, herpes zoster (shingles), genital and oral herpes, and others.  Medicines not thought to have antiviral activity may be effective against COVID-19.

My alternative theories of how antimicrobial medicines may function allow for many possible treatments.  Some medicines, like hydroxychloroquine, may have direct antiviral properties.  Another possibility is they may be active in the early stages of a virus infecting its target cells. 

Antibiotic resistance is a huge problem in health care.  Inappropriate usage of these drugs is a major cause of this problem.  But if experimenting with hydroxychloroquine and other medicines are an effective short-term treatment against COVID-19, then this has to be the order of the day.  At least until other regimens can be found.

How do antibiotics affect our microflora organ?  Many of my patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and related symptoms responded to these agents.  I believe the microflora content becomes imbalanced.  When an antibiotic improved a patient’s symptoms, it rebalanced a faulty system. 

I am more interested in results when people are suffering and there is no therapy that helps them.  Using known medicines and monitoring for side effects is a safe approach.  If there is a good treatment, I always try that first.  When the illness persists, we need to try something outside the box to alleviate the pain and misery.