Management of COVID - 19 with Siddha and Western Medicine - An Integrative Case Report

Renaissance in acceptance of the Siddha system of medicine in all over India happened during the current scenario of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The classical texts of Siddha medicine contain descriptions of the symptoms of COVID-19 as a syndrome like definition that may be correlated with KabaSuram. A 49-year-old female residing at New Delhi who got COVID-19 positive with comorbidity of hypothyroidism treated successfully using an integrative treatment plan (Siddha and Allopathic) as per Government-mandated COVID-19 treatment guidelines. The patient developed symptoms such as fever, sore throat, cold, cough with expectoration, difficulty in breathing, chest congestion, and body ache. Initially the patient took Western Medicine (WM) for five days but the symptoms did not subside. After five days an integrated treatment including Siddha medicine (Internal and external medicines) initiated at In Patient ward, Safdarjung Hospital. The health of the patient improved within 3 days and all her symptoms got relieved within 10 days. After completion of treatment, she tested reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and it was negative on 14^th day. Another patient who was admitted with her got COVID-19 positive turned negative only after 30 days as she missed the integrative medicine by probability. The reported case had a prospective follow-up for six months and found to be free of post-COVID complications. Since, this case report based on a single case which shows a positive outcome is incapable of generalizing the conclusion. Further suitable clinical trials need to be conducted to assess its efficacy. The status of the summary is reported as per CAse REport (CARE) guidelines.