Coronavirus may not even show any symptoms in some individuals while in others it can be a beast that leaves the person with crippling lung damage if they survive.
According to researchers, cannabis could be the answer to reducing the deadly COVID-19 lung inflammation in some patients.
A recent Forbes article has reported that researchers from the University of Nebraska and the Texas Biomedical Research Institute are recommending more research into how cannabis-derived CBD might help treat dangerous lung inflammation from the coronavirus.
The researchers have offered evidence in a peer reviewed article in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity that show how cannabis’ anti-inflammatory powers may help.
In the article, researchers explain that “recent reports have suggested that acute infection is associated with a cytokine superstorm, which contributes to the symptoms of fever, cough, muscle pain.”
This kind of inflammation can lead to severe pneumonia which clog up the lungs, make breathing difficult or impossible. Drugs that can reduce this inflammation have been investigated. In a recent study, one such drug, Tocilizumab, was able to clear out patients’ lungs, and resulted in recovery for 90% of the patients treated. The drug however had serious side effects.
Researchers have found that several cannabinoids in the cannabis plant have anti-inflammatory properties. In particular, they point to CBD as the most likely candidate for treating COVID-19 related inflammation.
The authors note that previous research has shown that CBD can reduce a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-6, the one reduced by other drugs being studied for COVID-19.
According to the Forbes report, “CBD was also shown to reduce interleukin (IL)-2, IL-1α and β, interferon gamma, inducible protein-10, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, macrophage inflammatory protein-1α, and tumor necrosis factor-α – all of which are associated with the pathology of severe cases of COVID-19. In addition to reducing these pro-inflammatory cytokines, CBD has also been shown to increase the production of interferons, a type of signaling protein that activates immune cells and prevents viruses from replicating.”
The authors also reveal that THC has shown powerful anti-inflammatory results, but it’s less well tolerated than CBD.
