AUTHOR=Spuch Carlos , López-García Marta , Rivera-Baltanás Tania , Rodrígues-Amorím Daniela , Olivares José M. 

TITLE=Does Lithium Deserve a Place in the Treatment Against COVID-19? A Preliminary Observational Study in Six Patients, Case Report

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.557629

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2020.557629

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=Lithium has shown the capacity to: a) inhibit the replication of several types of viruses, some of them similar to SARS-CoV-2 virus, b) increase immune response reducing lymphopenia, and c) reduce inflammatory activity by preventing or reducing the cytokine storm. We have treated six patients with severe COVID-19 infection with lithium carbonate. We have found that this treatment significantly reduced the reactive C-Protein, increased lymphocyte levels and decreased the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, improving both inflammatory activity and immune response in these patients. We propose that lithium carbonate may deserve a place in the treatment against COVID-19.