Hormonal Intervention for the Treatment in Veterans With COVID-19 Requiring Hospitalization

A novel coronavirus, now termed Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), arose late in 2019. The first confirmed cases occurred in December in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. It now infects people on six continents, spreading person to person. The World Health Organization (WHO) classified it as a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. As of April 6, 2020, there are more than 1.2 million confirmed cases and more than 70,000 deaths attributed to this virus. Every person on Earth, as well as every United States Veteran, is at risk. This is the emergent public health threat of our time. SARS-CoV-2 is a singled stranded RNA virus related to severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV-1). SARS-CoV-2 is thought to be transmissible largely by respiratory droplets or direct contact, but might also be transmitted through aerosolization. SARS-CoV-2 disease severity ranges from no to minimal symptoms, mildly symptomatic with cough and dyspnea, to severe respiratory distress with multi-organ failure requiring admission to an intensive care unit and emergent ventilator support. Although data are evolving, the severity of illness varies with age, co-existing comorbidities, and biological sex, with older age, people with pre-existing cardiovascular disease, and males manifesting greater disease severity. A worldwide effort is in place to contain and suppress human-to-human transmission. These public-health strategies aim to slow the rate of spread and reduce the burden on critical care infrastructure. However, there is also a need effective therapeutics. Vaccine trials are underway but potential approvals are at least a year away. Development of new drugs de novo to treat SARS2-CoV-2 will likely take even longer. Thus, the most expedient therapeutic strategy to confront this pandemic will repurpose existing FDA-approved therapeutics. One potential strategy targets viral components directly, using existing antivirals and anti-infectives currently used for other diseases. Such efforts include trials of hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, and ribavirin. Another strategy involves targeting the human proteins, rather than viral proteins, required for SARS CoV-2 entry and replication.