Mitigation of Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 with Clonidine: A Case Series from Nepal. 'A Neuromodulatory Approach to Prevent Complication and Death'

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a life-threatening viral infection that can rapidly spread and be lethal. Although many patients with mild symptoms recover, an acute form of the infection is characterized by rapidly evolving respiratory failure, an acute inflammatory response, organ failure, and death. As a mechanism to intervene in the acute inflammatory consequences of this infection, here we present three cases of moderate to severely symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 patients recovered following clonidine treatment. In this limited report, we proposed several mechanisms by which clonidine may be useful in managing rapidly evolving SARS-CoV2 infection based on the rationale that early clonidine administration can intervene in the neuromodulatory response that characterizes rapid patient heath deterioration in this COVID-19 infection in a vulnerable population.