The treatment for coronavirus that will surprise you

It’s killed thousands worldwide and is wrecking the global economy. But the main treatment for coronavirus in Australia is a common household drug available in supermarkets.

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Exclusive: Paracetamol was the only medicine used to treat four coronavirus patients isolated in Sydney hospitals with doctors reporting that the illness was so mild it was all that was needed.

News Corp can also reveal an experimental trial is underway to treat patients with the virus with the antiviral HIV drug Kaletra.

The same drug is being used on patients in China — the epicentre of the outbreak, which has claimed 2000 lives — in a similar trial.

News Corp understands the trial is taking place at the Gold Coast University Hospital.

“With such low numbers and with no severe outcomes reported it’s unknown if this drug (Kaletra) helped or not,” said a spokesperson for the Commonwealth Department of Health who confirmed the trial was underway.

Patients at an exhibition centre converted into a hospital in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. Picture: AFP

A Queensland Health spokesperson said “While it is not appropriate to comment on the treatment of any individual patient without their consent, it is very common when treating a new disease for clinicians to collaborate with experts around the world to determine novel treatments that might be appropriate for individual patient use”.

“Gold Coast Health is sharing its experiences with other centres treating COVID-19 patients as we seek appropriate treatments for this new virus,” the spokesperson said.

The drug, which it appeared to have some effect against SARS in 2004, contains two antivirus medications lopinavir and ritonavir which block virus replication.

“We are hoping for results from those (China) trials in 3-4 weeks and we are considering whether it should be tried in severe disease (here),” Professor Tania Sorrell the director of the Centre for Infectious Diseases Westmead Hospital told News Corp.

“If we had a really sick patient we would try it,” she said.

A Queensland Health spokesperson said: “While it is not appropriate to comment on the treatment of any individual patient without their consent, it is very common when treating a new disease for clinicians to collaborate with experts around the world to determine novel treatments that might be appropriate for individual patient use”.

It comes as more than 200 Australians on board a coronavirus-infested cruise ship near Tokyo prepared for their evacuation flight to Darwin last night as concerns grow over the escalating outbreak in Japan.

While many of the international passengers from the Diamond Princess are being subjected to an extra 14-day quarantine period after they exit the ship, it is a different situation for Japanese passengers.

About 500 of them were allowed to disembark yesterday, many of them taking Yokohama public buses to trains stations and taxi ranks.

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Professor Tania Sorrell says an HIV drug could be used in severe cases. Picture SUPPLIED

None of the 15 coronavirus patients treated in Australia have required intensive care treatment although one was in an intensive care room for infection control reasons.

“In NSW the main treatment has been symptomatic treatment to bring down their fever,” Professor Sorrell told News Corp exclusively.

Paracetamol was the medication used, she said.

“Management included making sure they were hydrated because there is no proven treatment for the virus,” she said.

All of the patients in Australia had mild cases of the virus and in NSW all 4 of them have already been discharged from hospital.

If the virus does take off in Australia Professor Sorrell is expecting it to mimic a severe flu season.

“I, and this is a personal opinion, based on information to date, don’t believe the mortality rate will be as high as reported in China … it may be more like a severe flu epidemic,” she said.

All of the patients in Australia had mild cases of the virus, only 11 of them have been hospitalised the Commonwealth Department of Health said and that was mainly to keep them isolated to stop the spread of infection.

Eight of those 11 people have already been discharged from hospital and two are in the recovery phase.

“Most patients were managed supportively to ensure they remained physiologically stable and to ensure if symptoms worsened specific action could be undertaken,” the department said.

An official report on the symptoms suffered by the 15 coronavirus patients in Australia shows only two developed pneumonia.

Ninety per cent of them suffered from fever and chills and 70 per cent had a cough.

Fewer than half had a sore throat, one in three had diahorrea, one in three had a runny nose, one in five had a headache and one in 14 suffered nausea and vomiting.

Joint and muscle pains were reported by around one in eight patients.

The reason Australia’s coronavirus patients were faring better than those in China was because most of them were younger, they did not have other chronic illnesses and were being treated in hospitals that were not overstretched, Professor Sorrell said.

“We’re starting to understand the disease can range from mild to severe and all cases in Australia have been milder, she said.

A medical worker records a patient's condition at Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan. Picture: AP

The patients in Australia range in age from 8 to 60 and none suffered from any other serious illnesses like diabetes, heart disease or lung conditions, she said.

“In China it has been noted that you are at increased risk of more severe disease if you ae elderly or if you have a significant coexisting chronic illness,” she said.

Before coronavirus patients in Australia can be discharged from hospital they must have two negative tests for the coronavirus.

Chinese researchers who reported on the symptoms of 99 patients in medical journal the Lancet said many patients presented with organ function damage, including 17 with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, eight with acute respiratory injury, three with acute renal injury, four with septic shock, and one with ventilator-associated pneumonia

Forty three patients had differing degrees of liver function abnormality.

Originally published as The treatment for coronavirus that will surprise you