ISSN: 2639-2038
Authors: Khavkina DA, Chukhliaev PV and Ruzhentsova ТÐ*
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing epidemiologists to look for new ways to stop the spread of infection. The article presents the results of a study in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. The study included 244 patients aged 18-90 years with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (by PCR of oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal smears). Materials and Methods: Among them, at the time of inclusion in the study and the beginning of therapy, 203 patients were treated on an outpatient basis, and 41 – in a hospital. Significant differences were found in the time to virus elimination in the compared groups among all patients. Results: Thus, a median of 8.5 days was established in the group of patients who did not take antiviral therapy, compared with groups 1 and 2, where the median was 3 days. However, among hospitalized patients, virus elimination was significantly faster when taking favipiravir: 3.0 compared to 5.0 days in the comparison group the comparison group that received umifenovir (p = 0.038). Conclusion: The use of effective antiviral therapy leads to a reduction in the time of elimination of the virus, which is a key process in interrupting its further transmission.
Keywords: Virus Elimination; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; Infection
