Bangladeshi researchers claim to have discovered 'effective drug' to treat dengue

A group of Bangladeshi researchers claim they have discovered a medicine to boost the platelet count and reduce the risk of bleeding out to effectively treat dengue.

They told weekly medical journal ‘The Lancet’ that administering ‘Eltrombopag’ in small doses showed results.

A team of 12 researchers, including Dr Mousumi Sanyal of Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Prof AHM Nurun Nabi of Dhaka University’s Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, carried out the test.

The Lancet article said the immune system of the body becomes weaker due to severe complications of the liver and the platelet count drops after giving chemotherapy to leukemia patients, a condition which is called thrombocytopenia or thrombocytes.

The success of using Eltrombopag to treat such conditions is evident. The experiment was planned under the impression that the medicine would be useful to treat dengue, the symptoms of which is similar to thrombocytopenia in terms of reduced platelet.

“The people of Dhaka were afflicted with dengue in 2019. People scramble in search of blood as platelet count drops because of dengue,” Prof Nurun Nabi told bdnews24.com. “When a helpless patient could not manage blood at such a time, Dhaka Medical College’s Dr Mousumi used Eltrombopag to save him. The patient recovered the next day.”

“Due to this success, she treated four other patients with the medicine. But in those five cases, two returned good results, two moderate while the result was not at the expected level in the other case.”

Prof Nabi said later the team applied Eltrombopag on 101 dengue patients and found ‘evidence of efficacy’.

“We’ve also looked into whether the medicine has any side effects because for many the increase in platelets may be harmful. But we found no such evidence.”

“Only three percent had side effects similar to diarrhoea,” he added.

The experiment brought in patients from Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Better Life Hospital and AMZ Hospital. Among them, 77 had normal dengue fever while the other 24 had dengue haemorrhagic fever.

Prof Nabi also elaborated on the experiment.

“The patients were divided into three groups. One group took 50mg Eltrombopag tablets while another were given 25mg ones every day and another group was subjected to standard treatments. All patients were kept under observation for seven days.”

“The platelets were boosted over 350,000 for 91 percent of those who were given 25mg and 97 percent of those who were given 50mg tablets. And 55 percent of the patients in the other group attained the usual level of platelets.”

The Lancet report said the experimental application had a positive effect on platelet growth and stopping hemorrhage in patients with thrombocytopenia.

“The lower dosage proved to be safer than the higher dosage, yet equally effective in treating dengue patients.”

Prof Nabi said the medicine has not been mentioned in treating dengue in the guideline of the World Health Organization. But it will surely be done if success is achieved in bigger experiments.

“The aim of our experiment is to stop everyone from rushing for blood so that all dengue patients get good results by using this medicine.”