Trials of a new treatment against Covid-19 are about to begin

Scientists in the UK are set to test a treatment they hope will improve the health of even the most severely affected by COVID-19.
Scientists have found that people with the highest severity of the disease have a much lower number of immune cells called T cells.
T cells have to clear the infection from the lower body.
This clinical trial will test whether a drug called interleukin 7, which increases the number of T cells, can help patients recover.
The study involved scientists from the Francis Creek Institute, King's College London, and Guys and St. Thomas Hospital.
The experts examined the immune cells in the blood of 60 people infected with COVID-19 and found that they had a marked decrease in the number of T cells.
Adrian Hayday, a professor at the Francis Creek Institute, said he was "surprised" to see what was happening to the immune system.
"These cells are trying to protect us, but the virus is doing something like pulling a carpet from under their feet, because their numbers have dropped dramatically."
One microliter drop of blood contains 2,000 to 4,000 T cells in healthy adults, also called T lymphocytes.
The people tested for Covid-19 had only 200 to 1,200 cells.
Researchers say that these results have paved the way for a "fingerprint test" that can detect the number of T cells in the blood and first determine who can be severely affected by the disease.
But they also highlight the possibility of a specific treatment to strengthen the immune system.
Dr. Manu Shankar Hari of Guys & St. Thomas Hospital said that 70% of the patients he sees in the intensive care unit are Covid-19 patients with 400 to 800 T cells per microliter. "As they get better, the number of these cells in them starts to increase."
Interleukin 7 has already been tested on a small group of patients with sepsis (bacterial infection) and has been shown to increase the production of these specific cells.
In this test, it will be given to patients with low T cells and who have spent more than three days in intensive care.
Dr. Manu Shankar says: "We hope that [when we increase the number of these cells] the viral infection will be cleared from the body."
"As an intensive care physician, he sees patients who are critically ill and we have no direct treatment for the disease other than symptomatic treatment," he said. Therefore, a medical trial of any such treatment is a very encouraging sign for intensive care physicians across the UK.
The study also sheds light on the specific way in which it attacks the immune system. Professor Hayday says this information will be very important.
"The virus that caused the disease is an emergency that could change the face of the earth. This virus is unique, this virus is different. There is no precedent for that. "
"But we still don't know the exact reason for the drop in T cells," he says. This virus is doing something very unique, and future research should examine how this virus is producing these effects. And that research should begin immediately. "