...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...patients. The study, which was led by Dr. Harvey A Risch of Yale University, suggests that late stage studies missed the point about effective usage of hydroxychloroquine. Dr. Risch says immediate and early ramping-up of treatment for high-risk COVID-19 patients is key to controlling the coronavirus pandemic crisis.
To date, more than 1.6 million Americans have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and >10 times that number carry antibodies to it. High-risk patients presenting with progressing symptomatic disease have only hospitalization treatment with its high mortality.
According to the abstract of the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, Dr. Risch said an outpatient treatment that prevents hospitalization is desperately needed. To date, two candidate medications have been widely discussed: remdesivir, and hydroxychloroquine+azithromycin. "Remdesivir has shown mild effectiveness in hospitalized inpatients, but no trials have been registered in outpatients. Hydroxychloroquine+azithromycin has been widely misrepresented in both clinical reports and public media, and outpatient trials results are not expected until September," Dr. Harvey A Risch of Yale University, said.
In a 29-page report, the study suggests that early outpatient illness is very different than later hospitalized florid disease and the treatments differ. Evidence about use of hydroxychloroquine alone, or of hydroxychloroquine+azithromycin in inpatients, is irrelevant concerning efficacy of the pair in early high-risk outpatient disease.
Five studies, including two controlled clinical trials, have demonstrated significant major outpatient treatment efficacy.
Hydroxychloroquine+azithromycin has been used as standard-of-care in more than 300,000 older adults with multicomorbidities, with estimated proportion diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmias attributable to the medications 47/100,000 users, of which estimated mortality is [less than] 20%, 9/100,000 users, compared to the 10,000.
More than 120 top scientists criticise a series of FLAWS in study that found Trump-backed hydroxychloroquine drug raised the risk of death to Covid-19 patients and halted global trials
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
- Letter found 10 flaws, including patient data which 'doesn't match' with records
- Signatories include controversial British epidemiologist Professor Neil Ferguson
- Study's findings that malaria drug raises risk of death raised fears around world
- Global human trials were halted, including two Oxford University studies in UK