Araz Melkonian M.D.

09/18/2022

A Turkish politician threatening to repeat the Armenian Genocide, and erase Armenia from geography. Didn’t his ancestors try doing that once?!?! This hate speech came out 3 days ago and it could be found on this person’s official FB page! If he was in any self respecting democratic country, he should have been condemned and persecuted but hence he is in Turkey, he is the head of a political party! 🇦🇲 🇦🇲 🇦🇲

06/16/2020

Dexamethasone (a steroid treatment) was found, in a large randomized controlled study done by Oxford University, to reduce death in hospitalised patients with severe respiratory complications of COVID-19. This is a particularly important news for public health, since Dexamethasone is relatively cheap medication and readily available all around the world.

In March 2020, the RECOVERY (Randomised Evaluation of COVid-19 thERapY) trial was established as a randomised clinical trial to test a range of potential treatments for COVID-19, including low-dose dexamethasone (a steroid treatment). Over 11,500 patients have been enrolled from over 175 NHS hospita...

06/08/2020

L.A. County’s health director urges protesters to self-quarantine and get tested for coronavirus as cases top 64,600!

As thousands continue to come together for a second week of protests against police brutality, Los Angeles County’s health director urged protesters to self-quarantine and get tested for the …

06/06/2020

The risk of COVID-19 disease progression in those who currently smoke or previously smoked was nearly DOUBLE that of non-smokers.

The fact that smoking prevalence is lower among COVID patients than the general population has been cited as evidence for a protective effect of smoking,” but this low prevalence may actually be due to an under-assessment of smoking.

Smoking significantly worsens COVID-19, according to a new analysis by UCSF of the association between smoking and progression of the infectious disease.

06/04/2020

Hence, another evidence confirming that Hydroxycholoquine does NOT work. The study showed no benefit in preventing illness development after high risk COVID-19 exposure.
In this double-blind, randomized trial, 821 asymptomatic persons with a high-risk or moderate-risk exposure to SARS-CoV-2 were assigned to receive hydroxychloroquine (414 persons) or placebo (407 persons) within 4 days after the exposure. No benefit in preventing illness compatible with Covid-19 was found.
https://nej.md/30dOS9J

05/30/2020

A new USC study suggests that temporarily suppressing the body’s immune system during the early stages of COVID-19 could help a patient avoid severe symptoms.

More preclinical studies including experiments in animal models will be needed to prove the efficacy of an early immune suppressing treatment.

A new USC study suggests that temporarily suppressing the body's immune system during the early stages of COVID-19 could help a patient avoid severe symptoms. That's because the research, just published online in the Journal of Medical Virology, shows that an interaction between the body's two main....

05/30/2020

As was expected!
Hydroxychloroquine administration is not associated with either a greatly lowered or an increased risk of intubation or death in an observational study, funded by the National Institues of Health, involving patients with COVID-19 who had been admitted to the hospital!

05/30/2020

Dr. Araz Melkonian was thrust into the COVID-19 pandemic early on, when little was known about the virus. Quick education and treatment were successful in getting a patient well and discharged home. This week, we mark National with thanks to all of our hospital heroes and their contributions to caring for our community. We asked physicians and associates from across the hospital to share their experience during the emergency, to capture their unique experiences and share their insights because .

05/30/2020

Covid-19 is deadlier than the seasonal flu.

That’s the conclusion of a new statistical study led by the University of Washington that looked to find the national death rate among people in the US infected with COVID-19. Reported in the journal Health Affairs, their statistical model found that people who display symptoms of Covid-19 have a fatality rate of around 1.3 percent. For comparison, the rate of death for the seasonal flu is 0.1 percent.

Research Article Health Affairs Vol.0 No.0 Estimating The Infection Fatality Rate Among Symptomatic COVID-19 Cases In The United States

05/30/2020

Positive data supporting Remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19.
In this randomized, double-blind trial in 1063 adults hospitalized with Covid-19, a 10-day course of intravenous remdesivir was superior to placebo in shortening the time to recovery. The estimates of mortality at 14 days were 7.1% in the remdesivir group and 11.9% in the placebo group.

Original Article from The New England Journal of Medicine — Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19 — Preliminary Report