The Kenyan government on Wednesday cautioned citizens against rushing to pharmacies to purchase the drug dexamethasone, which was shown to reduce mortality in patients with COVID-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator support.
The government’s warning comes a day after the World Health Organization welcomed the initial clinical trial results from the United Kingdom which indicated that dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, can be lifesaving for patients who are seriously ill with COVID-19.
According to the W.H.O., for patients on ventilators, the treatment was shown to reduce mortality by about 33 percent, while for patients requiring only oxygen, mortality was reduced by about 20 percent.
Director of Health Dr. Patrick Amoth issued the warning and pointed out the drug’s side-effects noting that Kenyans had a tendency of rushing to purchase any drugs over the counter.
“One of the side-effects of dexamethasone is fluid retention and accompanying that is you will gain weight. Your blood pressure could also go up. If you are diabetic, your blood sugar could go up and, therefore, if you are on insulin or other medicine for treating diabetes, you will require higher dose to be able to control your sugar,” Dr. Amoth said.
“It will also affect your moods; it can cause depression, and it can also affect your sleep pattern. Any person taking this particular medicine must be wary of those side-effects,” he added.
Dr. Amoth recalled that there have been past incidences of medicines, most notably chloroquine, which were touted to prevent or cure COVID-19 only to be disproved later on. He appealed for patience for extensive studies to be done before any conclusions could be arrived at.
“As at now, 88 percent of our cases are asymptomatic; it means this medicine will only apply to a very small fraction of our cases. In essence, this is to tell you there is still no cure for COVID-19.”
The Africa CDC also warned against the prescription and use of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine to prevent or treat COVID-19.
Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman disclosed that the government had held discussions with local clinicians to assess the viability of setting up its own local clinical trials to assess the efficacy of the drug.
Dexamethasone is a steroid which has been in use since the 1960s to reduce inflammation in several conditions, including inflammatory disorders and certain cancers, according to the W.H.O. It has been listed on the W.H.O. Model List of Essential Medicines since 1977 in multiple formulations, and is currently off-patent and affordably available in most countries.
