Chyawanprash as add on to the standard of care in preventing COVID-19 infection among apparently healthy health care workers – A single arm, longitudinal study

[摘要] Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of Chyawanprash in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection among health carepersonnel working at COVID-19 isolation ward.Setting: A hospital designated as COVID-19 care centre in Delhi, IndiaParticipants: Apparently healthy health care workers (HCWs) of age 20 to 60 years who were RT PCR negative andasymptomatic but possibly had exposure to active cases of COVID- 19, with or without co-morbid conditions were included.Pregnant and lactating females, volunteers with malignancy, uncontrolled blood sugar, chronic renal failure, chronic heartfailure, hematological disorders, and those on immunosuppressants were excluded from the study.Interventions: Chyawanprash, an Ayurvedic rasayana medicine 12 gm orally with warm water twice daily for 30 days alongwith standard preventive measures adopted by the institute. Primary Outcome: Incidence of COVID-19 infection confirmedby RT-PCR test. Secondary Outcomes: Evaluation of safety of the study drug through hematological & biochemicalinvestigations and occurrence of any adverse drug reaction or adverse events; number of participants developing any otherbacterial, viral or fungal infection during the study period and changes in inflammatory and immune markers.Results: At the end of study period, out of total 50 participants enrolled, two were COVID -19 positive. Incidence rate insimilar population in the same study setting prior to commencing (9.71%) and after completing the study period (1.79%) wascompared with incidence of COVID-19 during treatment period (1.09%). So, Chyawanprash showed protection rate of98.91%. It was well tolerated by all the study participants, when administered for 30 days.Conclusions: The infection rate at the hospital dropped significantly following administration of Chyawanprash. AsChyawanprash shows potential of a prophylactic agent against infection by SARS-CoV-2 infection, and is safe when usedin the recommended daily dosage, a randomized controlled trial to prove its prophylactic efficacy can be designed on largersample size.

[学科分类] 医学（综合）

[关键词] Ayurveda;Prophylactic;Rasayana;SARS-CoV-2