Prophylactic Treatment Protocol against the Severity of COVID-19 Using Melatonin

9 Pages Posted: 19 May 2020

See all articles by Nejib Charaa

Nejib Charaa

Regional Health Directorate of Kebili, Tunisia

Mohamed Chahed

Tunis El Manar University

Habib Ghedira

A. Mami Chest Diseases Hospital

Riadh Daghfous

Tunis El Manar University

Date Written: May 4, 2020

Abstract

The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic reached more than 150 countries in all continent in two months, after triggering in Wuhan, China in late December 2019. One of the main features of this pandemic is the increased severity of the disease with age and the highest proportion of serious cases among males. Most severe cases were caused by an intensive immune response with massive release of cytokines which induces acute respiratory distress syndrome and multi-visceral failure. Melatonin is the major neuro-hormone secreted by the pineal gland. The synthesis of this hormone shows a circadian pattern. Melatonin secretion gradually decreases with age and becomes clear in people over the age of 60. This deprivation is inversely proportional to the increase in mortality due to COVID-19 with age. Also the level of this hormone seems to be higher in women. It is assumed that melatonin with its immunomodulatory and antiviral actions plays a protective role against the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Following our review, we concluded that this hypothesis was highly plausible and we proposed a prophylactic treatment protocol against the severity of COVID-19 using a melatonin supplementation.

Note: Funding: The authors declare that this study was carried out without any financial support

Conflict of Interest: No conflicts of interest.

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Coronavirus, Melatonin, Prophylaxis, Treatment

JEL Classification: I10, I18

Suggested Citation

Charaa, Nejib and Chahed, Mohamed and Ghedira, Habib and Daghfous, Riadh, Prophylactic Treatment Protocol against the Severity of COVID-19 Using Melatonin (May 4, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3601861 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3601861

Nejib Charaa (Contact Author)

Regional Health Directorate of Kebili, Tunisia ( email )

Kebili
Tunisia

Mohamed Chahed

Tunis El Manar University

TN
Tunisia

Habib Ghedira

A. Mami Chest Diseases Hospital

Ariana
Tunisia

Riadh Daghfous

Tunis El Manar University

TN
Tunisia

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