French team uses chloroquine Treatment options are sensational in the United States. | 2020-03-23 18:09:03 (Visits: 631 Times) |  | | Researchers in France have tested hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, against Covid-19. Gerard Julien/AFP via Getty
By Umair Irfan Mar 20, 2020, 6:20pm EDT
What you need to know about hydroxychloroquine, Trump’s new favorite treatment for Covid-19
Trump wants to use the anti-malaria drug to treat the new coronavirus, but the evidence is lacking.
In one of the key moments of his March 20 press conference about the Covid-19 pandemic, President Trump touted hydroxychloroquine, a common anti-malaria drug, as a potential treatment for the illness, even while the top health official beside him urged caution about it.“This is prescribed for many years for people to combat malaria, which was a big problem and it’s very effective,” Trump said. “It was a strong drug.” He later added, “I sure as hell think we ought to give it a try.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, and a beacon of evidence-based policy in the administration’s botched pandemic response, had been asked by a reporter whether hydroxychloroquine could be used against Covid-19 after reports surfaced this week of doctors using it in other countries to treat patients. Fauci was clear: The evidence was thin and anecdotal. (Their extended exchange was bizarre and revealing, as my colleague German Lopez reported.)
But what is the deal with hydroxychloroquine, you ask? With the spread of the coronavirus across the world and increasing numbers of infected people, there’s now an international race to develop effective treatments for Covid-19. And hydroxychloroquine, a less-toxic derivative of chloroquine, another malaria drug, has emerged as one of the frontrunners. (Chloroquine itself is related to quinine, an ingredient in tonic water.)Chinese researchers showed in lab cell culture tests that hydroxychloroquine can slow infections from the virus behind Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, blocking it from entering cells. Some doctors in China and South Korea have also used it to treat patients. And a recent study by researchers in France found that the drug was “efficient” in clearing upper airways from the virus in three to six days in most patients. That timing is important because an untreated infected person can transmit the virus for 20 days or more, even without showing symptoms. So it’s important to shrink the amount of time a person carries the virus in order to limit its spread.
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