New Delhi: Hydroxychloroquine, a derivative of chloroquine, which is supposedly 40 per cent less toxic, has been found to be effective in treating the coronavirus. On 20 March, in a press conference, US President Donald Trump praised the drug.
Trump’s aide, Anthony Fauci, Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, however, said the evidence of the drug’s success is still anecdotal. He said some doctors are reporting that this medicine has been found to be effective, but no real clinical trials have been done yet.
A Chinese study with 10 scientists had first claimed that hydroxychloroquine was effective in treating COVID-19.
Then another study from France said hydroxychloroquine is even more effective when combined with azithromycin. Around 75 per cent of patients given these two drugs had no trace of the virus within six days. None of the patients from the control group, who were not administered the drugs, recovered within six days.
France has, however, warned against the use of ibuprofen. The Health minister of France, Olivier Véran, tweeted that it’s better not to give coronavirus patients such anti-inflammatory medicine. This view was anecdotal, based on the worsening conditions of some patients, and not on any scientific data. The US FDA, on the other hand, maintains that there’s no evidence for stopping ibuprofen and it should be continued once started.
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COVID-19 more effective than other coronaviruses.
New scientific evidence has appeared in an article in The Atlantic on why the COVID-19 is so persistent.
According to the article, our lungs and throat have angiotensin-converting enzyme receptors which bind to the COVID-19 virus when it enters our body.
The immune system fights back causing inflammation and fever. In extreme cases, the immune system may overreact causing more damage than the actual virus. Such an overreaction is called a cytokine storm. The storm can also affect other organs besides the lungs, especially if people already have chronic diseases. This might explain why some COVID-19 patients end up with complications such as heart problems and secondary infections.
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The study, that you have based your write up on is FLAWED. The French were in hurry to claim FIRST report of this drug, however have cut corners in the process of a drug trial. Several of doctors & scientific community is criticizing it. Also the last author of this study is Editor of this journal in which this study was published, even before the stipulated time of study was over. They have excluded the cases Which dropped out due to intolerance or severity of disease. Many questions remain unanswered. Don’t be surprised if it is retracted. As for Chinese evidence, they just gave verbal inputs… they DO NOT have any data & haven’t shown any proof to W.H.O. Despite several reminders.
This is very irresponsible Mr. Gupta. After Trump’s praise Nigeria has had cases of chloroquine poisonings because people self-medicated.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-21/nigeria-reports-chloroquine-poisonings-after-trump-praised-drug
It would not be a surprise if something similar happens in India following your report.
At least preface your report saying this is not a medical advice and you must consult your doctor before taking any medicine.
Of course I doubt if any attention will be paid to this comment by the Print team. But one can hope.