The Antidepressant Fluvoxamine Can Keep Covid-19 Patients out of the Hospital

 

Madeleine Brandes 

Mr. Ippolito 

11/1/21

Current Event 6 

Landhuis, Esther. “The Antidepressant Fluvoxamine Can Keep Covid-19 Patients out of the Hospital.” Science News, 27 Oct. 2021, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-antidepressant-fluvoxamine-drug-hospital-death

            The article, “The antidepressant fluvoxamine can keep COVID-19 patients out of the hospital” by Esther Landhuis explains that; a commonly used antidepressant drug, Fluvoxamine, could be the “next weapon in the arsenal against COVID-19.” The drug is commonly prescribed for OCD, and is found in all pharmacies across the United States for only 10 dollars. Taking this drug within days of showing symptoms of COVID-19 can “dramatically cut the risk of hospitalization and death, suggests the largest trial to date of this FDA-approved generic drug as a COVID-19 treatment.” 

            This drug has a major impact on society because it is another way to treat COVID-19; that is way cheaper and more reliable for some that are skeptical of the new drugs. On October 27, in the Lancet Global Health, ​​newly infected COVID-19 patients took a 10-day course of fluvoxamine. This reduced the deaths by 91 percent. Another experiment was conducted by researchers at McMaster University in Canada and Cardresearch in Brazil. This experiment took 1,497 unvaccinated adults in their first week of COVID-19 symptoms. The patients either received 100 milligrams of fluvoxamine or placebo pills twice a day for 10 days. Fluvoxamine cut hospitalization by 32 percent. Without the fluvoxamine, 12 out of the 756 patients died. But with the fluvoxamine, only one of the 741 patients died. Not only is this drug effective, but it can help people that can’t afford the treatment for COVID-19. Normally, a five day course of molnupiravir is 700 dollars, but a 10 day course of fluvoxamine only costs 10 dollars. 

            This article was very well written and interesting for many reasons. Not only did the author include lots of evidence and information to back up his claim, but he also used multiple sources. The author used these sources to prove to the reader that the antidepressant fluvoxamine is very beneficial in many ways. Although the article was very well written and informative, the author lacked background information. In order to get the reader really engaged, the author should have explained the evidence more and how it impacts a wider audience of people. Overall, the author did an excellent job.