ABSTRACT
Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. No drug has been generally approved as safe and effective for the treatment of COVID 19. Several therapeutic agents such as COVID Organics® (CVO) have been explored as treatment options. CVO is an herbal tea composed of 62% of Artemisia annua and 38% of other plants. There is presently no existing scientific report and data on the safety and efficacy of CVO herbal drug. Thus, acute and subacute toxicity studies were undertaken to evaluate the safety and toxicity of CVO on short and long term usage in animal models. Materials and Methods: Phytochemical and nutritional compositions of CVO were determined using standard methods. Acute oral toxicity was investigated using female Swiss albino mice (three per group). While subacute oral toxicity was done using female and male Swiss albino rats (five per group). The animals were administered 2000 mg/kg, 5000 mg/kg, therapeutic dose; 5500 mg/kg and supratherapeutic dose; 11,000 mg/kg of CVO herbal product. The control group received water ad libitum. The oral toxicity studies were done in accordance with Organization for Economic Corporation and Development guidelines. The experimental protocol was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (Ethics No. IRB/17/043). Results: CVO is rich in antioxidants: flavonoids(10.3%), tannins(29.1%), and phenolics(434.4 mg). It contains proteins (33.8%), carbohydrates (34.5%), fat (6.8%), and fiber (0.5%). In the acute toxicity study, no mortality was recorded in all the treated and untreated groups. The lethal dose of CVO is >5000 mg/kg body weight. The hematological, biochemical, lipid profile, and histologic parameters were all normal at therapeutic doses when compared to the control group. Conclusion: The acute and subacute oral toxicity studies revealed that CVO is not toxic. The specific organ toxicity evaluations also indicated that CVO has no toxic effects on blood parameters and vital organs structure and function at therapeutic dose. Thus, CVO is safe for short and long term usage. We recommend that CVO should be subjected to efficacy studies to investigate whether it is effective for COVID 19 treatment as claimed by the manufacturer.
Subject(s)
Subacute Care , SARS-CoV-2 , COVID-19 , Therapeutics , MadagascarABSTRACT
Sensorineural hearing impairment (SHI) has been reported in chronic renal failure (CRF) patients with a prevalence of 20-40. The aetiopathogenetic mechanisms reported included osmotic alteration resulting in loss of hair cells and in some; complications of haemodialysis have been hypothesized. We have in the past reported 2 cases of CRF patients who developed acute SHL following hemodialysis. This is a report of investigation of the effect of hemodialysis on the hearing function of CRF patients using pure tone audiometry findings. Thirty-three CRF patients were recruited for Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) at admission and after three sessions of hemodialysis. The pure tone audiometry was done with a computer audiometer BA 20 Kamplex in the sound - proof (acoustic) booth in the ENT clinic. The duration of illness; dosage of diuretics and blood pressure were also noted. Similar age and sex-matched control were selected among volunteers who were otherwise clinically healthy. The data was processed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Inc; Chicago; Illinois; USA). Thirty-three CRF patients treated with haemodialysis and 28 healthy controls completed the study; 34 males and 27 females; age range was 16 - 72 years; mean of 45.30 (SD16.20) for subjects and 49.7 for controls. Hearing loss was found in 22/34 (67) at recruitment and 27/34 (79) after 3 sessions of hemodialysis. There was a significant difference between the mean pre- and post-hemodialysis PTA values; P =0.0008. There was also a significant correlation between post - hemodialysis hearing threshold and (i) duration of illness (P = 0.00340) and (ii) creatinine levels of the patients (P=0.035). In conclusion; there was a significant depression in the hearing threshold of patients with CRF following three sessions of hemodialysis. This could be caused by changes induced by hemodialysis or effects of the duration and severity of disease