public service announcement re iboprofen

[debthaven]

Hey people. As you know I'm American but I live in France.

Things are getting worst here, all schools and daycares are closed, nationwide.

But the French government is broadcasting something that I have NOT seen on the news in the US. I may have missed it, but better safe than sorry.

They are saying that in case of suspected Covid-19, DO NOT TAKE IBOPRUFEN, TAKE PARACETAMOL (ie Tylenol) INSTEAD. I think they're saying that taking iboprufen risks aggravating an infection (but frankly I haven't read the details).

I'm not a doctor, I don't play one on TV, but I was extremely surprised to see this CONSTANT warning in France, with zero mention of it in the US. So I wanted to mention it.

That's all.

I put this on YM but wanted to put it here too. I'll copy weltschmerz 's explanation too.

[debthaven]

From weltschmerz on the YM thread:

Health officials point out that anti-inflammatory drugs are known to be a risk for those with infectious illnesses because they tend to diminish the response of the body’s immune system.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/anti-inflammatory-drugs-may-aggravate-coronavirus-infection

[Rukh O'Rorke]

thank you Debt!! Not hearing this anywhere in the news...


For those interested I found this:

www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30116-8/fulltext

Human pathogenic coronaviruses (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus [SARS-CoV] and SARS-CoV-2) bind to their target cells through angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is expressed by epithelial cells of the lung, intestine, kidney, and blood vessels.4 The expression of ACE2 is substantially increased in patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, who are treated with ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II type-I receptor blockers (ARBs).4 Hypertension is also treated with ACE inhibitors and ARBs, which results in an upregulation of ACE2.5 ACE2 can also be increased by thiazolidinediones and ibuprofen. These data suggest that ACE2 expression is increased in diabetes and treatment with ACE inhibitors and ARBs increases ACE2 expression. Consequently, the increased expression of ACE2 would facilitate infection with COVID-19. We therefore hypothesise that diabetes and hypertension treatment with ACE2-stimulating drugs increases the risk of developing severe and fatal COVID-19.

[debthaven]

Rukh O'Rorke this is absolutely terrifying because DH has hypertension and takes 2 meds. One of them is an ACE inhibitor. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Ooh how unsettling! Wishing you and yours safe passage through this.

Trying to find out which meds my mom is on...

Stay safe everyone!

[busymom]

Thank you for the information, debthaven.  Unfortunately, the "authorities" here are seriously lacking in telling us ways to protect ourselves.  Other than washing our hands, that is.