Journal Club - AYUSH and Covid-19, a hope

Ministry of AYUSH and the Tamil Nadu government have recommended Kabasura Kudineer to prevent and manage COVID-19 in India. Kabasura Kudineer (KSK) is a Siddha polyherbal decoction and administering polyherbal Siddha formulations in the management of chikungunya and dengue outbreaks in the state of Tamil Nadu has made the state government ponder on its potential for the management of Covid-19.

A recent study published in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine tried to determine the outcome of integrated therapy for COVID-19 using KSK in virologic clearance and length of hospital stay.

The COVID-19 patients admitted during May-June 2020 at SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Chennai, Tamil Nadu were included in the study.

The decoction was prepared by adding 10 gms of Kabasura Kudineer powder with 240 ml of water. The water was boiled and reduced to one-fourth i.e. 60 ml and filtered. This 60 ml decoction was administered orally thrice daily, 20 min before food for all the patients. Each dose of Kabasura Kudineer decoction was administered to all the patients within 3hours of preparation.

The researchers collected 204 confirmed COVID-19 patients' data who fell in the age bracket of 13-79.77% of the patients were male and 28% had co-morbidities. Among the comorbidities,17.2% had diabetes and 12.7% had hypertension which were the predominant disorders. The mean value of systolic and diastolic blood pressure was 119.1 mm Hg and 77.9 mm Hg, respectively on the day of admission. The median hospital stay was 9 days.

Out of the total patients who were admitted, 64% were mildly symptomatic bearing the symptoms of Covid-19. The most common clinical symptoms reported by the patients were fever, cough , sore throat , headache, and fatigue during the hospital stay.

Most of the asymptomatic patients turned negative for COVID-19 in RT-PCR within 4–7 days and 25% of the patients turned negative in 8–15 days after integrated treatment with Kabasura Kudineer. 65% and 34% mild asymptomatic patients turned negative in 4–7 days and 8–15 days respectively. Around two-thirds of hypertension patients turned negative in 4–7 days, whereas only half of the diabetes patients turned negative in 4–7 days, There was a notable difference among patients in the counts of total lymphocytes, eosinophils, and basophils before and after the integrated treatment.

Only one patient who suffered from other comorbidities died. The authors, therefore, concluded that the integrated management of COVD-19 with Kabasura Kudineer and standard care of treatment has demonstrated noteworthy results in virologic clearance, which reduced the duration of hospitalization