The Effect of Methylene Blue on COVID-۱۹ Patients’ Treatment: A Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial

Background: COVID-۱۹ became widespread in ۲۰۱۹ worldwide and affected everyone. Even though it was a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus with severe symptoms, some drugs could be effective in its treatment. It seems that methylene blue (MB), a drug for treating methemoglobinemia, can be a useful COVID-۱۹ treatment. Methods: Overall, ۶۰ COVID-۱۹ patients with an O۲ saturation of less than ۸۵% and with no underlying diseases were chosen and included in this study. The patients were divided into the placebo control group (n=۳۰) and the MB-treated group (n=۳۰) and received ۱ mg/kg of MB for ۴ days. Some serum parameters were measured before and after ۴ days of treatment. In addition, the O۲ saturation was measured every ۱۲ hours. Then, the results were compared with each other. Results: MB decreased the serum C-reactive protein (P=۰.۱۴), lactate dehydrogenase (P=۰.۰۸), and creatinine (P=۰.۱۲) in the COVID-۱۹ patients non-significantly and increased the serum aspartate aminotransferase (P=۰.۴۰) and alanine aminotransferase (P=۰.۳۶) parameters in comparison with the control placebo group. However, it had no significant effect on O۲ saturation (P=۰.۵۲) in COVID-۱۹ patients. Conclusion: MB, a specific drug for treating methemoglobinemia, had no significant effect on COVID-۱۹ patients.