Can the paracetamol help fight infectious diseases?

07 Mar 2022

A new study co-authored by Professor Ric Day, St Vincent’s Clinical Pharmacologist, looks to identify if certain common medicines affect the body's response to infections to determine their potential to fight against infectious diseases.

A wide-reaching global review found that some of the most common pain and fever medicines might increase vulnerability to infections like COVID-19, while others may hold hope for improving our immune response.

"From community use to hospital and acute care, these classes of pain and fever medications are among the most popular drugs worldwide but we need to consider the significant impact these can have on our immune system," Professor Ric Day, St Vincent's Clinical Pharmacologist.

“One of the problems is that widely used medicines –such as paracetamol, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen– have been around for decades and in the past we didn’t tend to consider their impacts on the immune system because it has been an under-recognised area”, Professor Day said.

The study has provided insights into unintended impacts of these commonly used medicines, highlighting the potential for some of these medicines to join the fight against old and new infectious diseases.

The paper, published in the British Pharmacological Society Journal and be found here.

Ric Day outside

Professor Ric Day