Coronavrus: What Experts Say About Chloroquine Use – National

05/14/2020 Health, World



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(photo: Leandro Couri / EM / D.A press)
(photo: Leandro Couri / EM / D.A press)

Although the use of chloroquine in patients infected with new coronavirus has no proven effectiveness, President JBolsonaro air insists on saying that the remedy the solution for COVID-19. Therefore, the Brazilian Association of Allergy and Immunology (ASBAI) resolved draw attention to the risk of self-medication, after “hasty interpretations that antimalarial drugs are effective in treating and preventing serious forms of COVID-19”.

In a position disclosed to the press, the ASBAI shows several points about the use of the drug in infected patients. “We observe the self-medication of people frightened by the disease and the indiscriminate prescription of these off-label medications by doctors, despite the absence of good scientific evidence to support their clinical benefit in the fight against COVID-19,” he says. an excerpt from the document.

This Wednesday (13), Jair Bolsonaro said that he will speak with the Minister of Health, Nelson Teich., to include the use of chloroquine and its derivatives hydroxychloroquine in the service protocol of the Unified Health System (SUS).
It is worth remembering that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have been used for several decades as antimalarial and anti-inflammatory agents in rheumatologic and autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus.

Dumb mortality rate

On Monday (11) the result of one of the main investigations on the subject was published in the magazine. Jama (Journal of the American Medical Association). In it, the study by researchers at the University of Albany., in the state of New York, found no relationship between drug use and reduced mortality from the disease.

1,438 patients infected with the new coronavirus were analyzed in 25 New York hospitals.

The mortality rate of the patients treated with hydroxychloroquine was similar to that of those who did not take the medication, as well as the rate of people who received hydroxychloroquine combined with the antibiotic azithromycin.

Furthermore, patients who took the drug combination were twice as likely to experience cardiac arrest during the analysis period.

Another point is heart problems that are already a known side effect of chloroquine. “Considering the countless scientific publications that emphasize the high frequency and severity of COVID-19 cardiac manifestations, this is an important warning sign against indiscriminate use of hydroxychloroquine in mild, outpatient cases of the disease,” says ABAI.

The document published by the Brazilians still draws attention to the mixture of the element with other drugs. “There is an increased risk of its toxicity due to interaction with other drugs, underlying cardiac morbidities, and acute kidney damage, clinical scenarios that are frequently observed in patients, particularly the elderly with COVID-19.”

Bolsonaro is based on a French study

In addition to lupus, chloroquine is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and malaria. The drug gained worldwide projection as a possible solution for the coronavirus after the publication of a andstudy in France, carried out by infectious disease specialist Didier Raoult, of the Marseille University of Medicine.

The results led to world leaders like the president American Donald Trumpand the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro, defending the use of this medicine against COVID-19.

In the survey, infected patients receive hydroxychloroquine associated with an antibiotic called azithromycin. Despite the results that were considered promising, the scientific community was divided on the possible effectiveness of the drug.

According to most researchers, the study was conducted with a small number of participants, only 30. In addition, they warn of the need for a thorough analysis of the side effects of the remedy, which are many.

* Intern under the supervision of Deputy Editor Kelen Cristina

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