In 2020, COVID-19 pneumonia became so common that “old-fashioned” bacterial pneumonia suddenly seemed rare. They look very different on x-ray. See if you can spot the differences.

A new study from France tipped the scales towards using a steroid called hydrocortisone. This is a stronger intravenous version of the skin cream people use for rashes. (Interestingly, a different steroid called dexamethasone was famously shown to reduce mortality in Covid-19 patients).

In patients with pneumonia severe enough to require the intensive care unit (ICU), 11.9% in the placebo group died, compared to 6.2% in the steroid group. That’s a massive difference for an inexpensive medication (or any).

If the research is correct, it means that for every 18 patients with this disease that we give hydrocortisone to, we’ll save one life. I can’t stress how unusual this kind of improvement is in a major study. And the drug is very inexpensive. This is amazing news.

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