Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by the
novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, represent an ongoing global health
emergency. Common symptoms are mild including fever, cough, myalgia and
difficulty breathing. In patients most severely affected, COVID-19 can
be complicated by the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The
management of ARDS mainly focuses on the provision of supportive care,
e.g., oxygenation, ventilation, and fluid management. Polyethylene
glycol (PEG) is a water soluble non-toxic polymer approved by FDA and
widely used in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutics. PEG has interesting
properties that makes it suitable for use as an adjuvant treatment in
COVID-19 patient with ARDS: (1) PEG could create a physical barrier that
inhibits virus entry and invasion; (2) PEG reduces inactivation and
enhances the surface activity of pulmonary surfactant; (3) PEG decrease
cytokine release and (4) PEG preserve lung endothelial cells integrity.