The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning doctors against prescribing a malaria drug widely touted by President Donald Trump for treating the new coronavirus outside of hospitals or research settings.
In an alert Friday, regulators flagged reports of serious side effects and death among patients taking hydroxychloroquine and the related drug chloroquine. The drugs, also prescribed for lupus, can cause a number of side effects, including heart rhythm problems, severely low blood pressure and muscle or nerve damage.
In one such report, doctors at a New York hospital said that heart rhythm abnormalities developed in most of the 84 coronavirus patients treated with hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin, a combo Trump has promoted.
Last month, the FDA authorized emergency use of the malaria drugs for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who aren’t enrolled in ongoing clinical trials. But regulators said they are investigating life-threatening side effects reported with the drugs to poison control centers and other health authorities.
Calls to U.S. poison control centers involving the malaria drugs have recently jumped 50%, from 52 calls in March 2019 to 79 last month, according to Dr. Christopher Hoyte of the Rocky Mountain Poison Center in Denver, Colorado.
The problems reported include irregular heart rhythms, seizures, nausea and vomiting, Hoyte said.
Trump has repeatedly touted hydroxychloroquine during his regular coronavirus briefings, calling it a “game changer” and suggesting its skeptics would be proved wrong. He has offered patient testimonials that the drug is a lifesaver.
“It is important that health care providers are aware of the risks of serious and potentially life-threatening heart rhythm problems that can occur with these drugs,” the FDA said in a statement.
(AP)
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5 Responses
Per Dr. Z the hydroxychloroquine opens the door and lets THE ZINC in to fight the virus. These studies aren’t using zinc. The Azithromycin fights secondary infections. And Dr. Z didn’t wait until patients were critical to start. Did Dr. Z’s protocol work or would these patients have gotten better anyway? That’s the study I’m waiting to see.
The TDS is in full view here!
Hydroxychloroquine + Azithromycin + zinc have saved thousands of lives all over the world, yet the FAKE NEWS MEDIA will try to use little things to knock this life saving medication combo JUST BECAUSE TRUMP MENTIONED IT.
Let see the logic 20+ calls in March to poison control regarding Hydroxychloroquine from which we don’t know how many were minor side effects and what the status of the patient was when he took it, should overwhelm us and cause us to drop the life saving combo???
Also the hospital mentioned “most patients of 84..,” thats a small amount and we don’t know the patients condition, perhaps it was given to high risk patients. Anyone that understands the reason the combo is effective will know that it’s primary function is to BLOCK the virus from using the cells to duplicate. It is almost worthless once the virus spread…,
Talk about EVIL
Hydroxychloroquine now heat and light and injectable disinfectant…. Trump is just flailing looking for miracle cures instead of containing the problem whilst a vaccine or cure is developed.
But of course, MosheinGolus will tell you this is somehow all the media’s fault.
For more than 60 years this drug has been used for several medical conditions, (so I as rhetorically) are they now saying it should no longer be used for malaria and lupus? Or are they saying it is not dangerous for malaria or lupus but only for this virus (as there are no studies yet, how could they know)? Or are they just saying doctors are dumb and don’t know what they are doing (hope that gives you lots of faith in your doctor, the medical establishment, and medical schools).
In case I am being too obscure, let me make myself clear. The anti-Trump politicization of this is so blatant that it really pouts into question trust in the medical establishment as well. And Dr. Didier Raoult (look him up in wikipedia) has already constructively said this same thing.
Not because Trump mentioned it. Because if there already exists a cheap effective medicine, drug corporations won’t be able to earn billions with a new medicine. I’m pro-Western meds and pro vaccine and beyond skeptical of “alternative” treatments. I remain open to the possibility that big pharma doesn’t want to just cure coronavirus. They want to PROFIT from curing coronavirus. Same way that some beverage companies don’t particularly care about your thirst. They want to sell you bottled drinks.