Fauci is on his second round of the drug.
QUICK FACTS:
- White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has reported experiencing a rebound of COVID-19 symptoms.
- The 81-year-old head of the National Institute of Health (NIH) appeared virtually at a Foreign Policy Global Health Forum on Tuesday and talked about his experience with the virus.
- Fauci tested positive for COVID-19 several weeks ago and then took Pfizer’s anti-viral Paxlovid, which was recently approved for the virus’s symptoms.
- Fauci told attendees that he tested negative for three days and then tested positive on the fourth day.
- “After I finished the five days of Paxlovid, I reverted to negative on an antigen test for three days in a row,” Fauci told the forum. “And then on the fourth day, just to be absolutely certain, I tested myself again. I reverted back to positive.”
- The doctor added that “over the next day or so, I started to feel really poorly, much worse than in the first go around,” adding, “So, I went back on Paxlovid and right now I am on my fourth day of a five-day course.”
COVID-19 “REBOUND”:
- The term “COVID-19 rebound” is a relatively new one, but is characterized by the virus seeming to “rebound” after an infected person tested negative for a period of time.
- During Pfizer’s clinical trials for Paxlovid, the drug seemed to promise prevention of hospitalization or death.
- However, many patients who took the course of anti-virals reported their COVID-19 symptoms returning after taking a full course of the medication.
- The problem was serious enough that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an alert to the healthcare community: “Paxlovid continues to be recommended for early-stage treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 among persons at high risk for progression to severe disease,” said the agency in its notice.
- “Paxlovid treatment helps prevent hospitalization and death due to COVID-19. COVID-19 rebound has been reported to occur between 2 and 8 days after initial recovery and is characterized by a recurrence of COVID-19 symptoms or a new positive viral test after having tested negative,” the notice went on to say.
BACKGROUND:
- Due to his age, Fauci is considered to be part of the “high-risk” age group for developing serious complications from COVID-19, including death.
- Studies on the relatively new strain of the virus have shown that the elderly are at the highest risk, and conversely, children have a relatively low risk of long-term complications.