Antidepressants may reduce severity of COVID-19

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Observational evidence from hospitals suggests that certain antidepressants may be an effective and inexpensive therapeutic option in the fight against COVID-19. Photo: Pexels

 

(Nick Zagorski/ Psychiatric News) — While effective COVID-19 vaccines continue to be approved and distributed worldwide, these injections are only one step of a multistep process to control the devastation caused by the pandemic. Even with millions of people receiving COVID-19 vaccines, the virus will continue to spread, and viral mutations will keep testing the efficacy of available vaccines.

Many public health experts say that identifying medications that can prevent people from developing severe COVID-19 illness is also important—particularly treatments that are inexpensive and widely available.

Some recent data show that antidepressants—especially the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluvoxamine—might fit the bill. (…)

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