How to save Covid patients on oxygen

Severe Covid-19 illness is marked by acute respiratory distress syndrome characterised by impaired oxygenation of blood in the lungs, requiring mechanical oxygen ventilation. But that has challenges.

First, most patients suffer lung failure and, secondly, oxygen gas is expensive. A probiotic drug that, when administered, substantially lowers oxygen consumption in the gut, sparing oxygen for other organs such as the brain, kidneys and liver, has been tested.

The unique properties of Slab51 opens a new promising scenario for the medical support of Covid-19 infected patients and numerous other health conditions characterised by the need for oxygen supplementation. The improvement in blood oxygenation suggests that the formulation modulates consumption of oxygen at the intestinal level.

Slab51 has been evaluated in a controlled trial with 69 adult Covid-19 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2-related pneumonia. All the patients had a weighty compromission of lungs (less than half) and required non-invasive oxygen therapy. Patients supplemented with Slab51, in addition to the standard treatment, showed significantly higher blood oxygen levels than those on routine treatment.

Patients on standard therapy without the probiotic had substantially higher oxygen requirements. In addition, fewer patients in the probiotic group were transferred to the intensive care unit (2.5 per cent in the probiotic group versus 13.8 per cent in the control group).

The study is in line with previous clinical studies. Future studies could investigate the potential benefit of probiotic Slab51 as a safe add-on to the standard of care drugs for a broad spectrum of invalidating diseases such as chronic fatigue, neurodegenerative disorders, neonatal hypoxia and myocardial ischemia.

Kenya’s health sector should consider this supplement to reduce the high Covid-19 mortalities.

Dr Mutua is director, ImmunoBiologic Research/Consultancy Centre. [email protected].