This is an old paper, FYI. Published on Feb 20, which is eons ago given the state of things.
Chloroquine has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of Covid-19
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Re: Chloroquine has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of Covid-19
#62This is an increadibly potent drug with serious side effects according to anything I read, its not first-line treatment its last-line, when everything else fails. You can go blind, irreversibly. Please people, speak to trained medical people before reaching to the drug cabinet. I am not a doctor. This advice is not meant to contradict the rule of only taking medical advice from medical professionals.
From wikipedia.
One of the most serious side effects is a toxicity in the eye (generally with chronic use).[11] People taking 400 mg of hydroxychloroquine or less per day generally have a negligible risk of macular toxicity, whereas the risk begins to go up when a person takes the medication over 5 years or has a cumulative dose of more than 1000 grams. The daily safe maximum dose for eye toxicity can be computed from one's height and weight using this calculator. Cumulative doses can also be calculated from this calculator. Macular toxicity is related to the total cumulative dose rather than the daily dose. Regular eye screening, even in the absence of visual symptoms, is recommended to begin when either of these risk factors occurs.[12]
Re: Chloroquine has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of Covid-19
#63It should go without saying that we can cheerlead for the emergence of effective treatments, but actual treatment decisions should be made by a doctor.
> actual treatment decisions should be made by a doctor. Medical advice is given by doctors and other health professionals. Treatment decisions are made by patients, those entrusted by patients to make decisions, or parents, guardians, or custodians who make decisions on behalf of patients.
For everything but OTC meds, it takes both a doctor’s and a patient’s consent.
Re: Chloroquine has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of Covid-19
#64i currently take Plaquenil (Hydroxychloroquine) for rheumatoid arthritis, and my doctor did indicate it may be helpful against Covid but not enough tests to confirm. Is it close enough to chloroquine to be the same ?
The paper says clinical tests used both chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. In discussing the results, they don't seem to differentiate between the two, unless I missed it.
"The pharmacological activity of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine was tested using SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero cells."
https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid...
Re: Chloroquine has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of Covid-19
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, I'm no medical professional, just an avid reader of such news. But I believe that most of this post is incorrect. I've seen no studies backing up the use of zinc for anything related to COVID-19. A search of pubmed for the terms 'covid zinc' or 'coronavirus zinc' show no papers referencing treatments. Same goes for medrxiv. There are a lot of cold "treatments" involving the use of zinc in the way you suggest. I h…
Not vouching for the suggested treatment but chloroquine acts as a zinc ionophere enabling increased zinc binding/intake in cells, inhibiting RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, which would theoretically ultimately encumber the replication of the virus.
Right. The Zinc is already present intercellular, unless the patient is Zinc deficient.
Re: Chloroquine has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of Covid-19
#66This is an increadibly potent drug with serious side effects according to anything I read, its not first-line treatment its last-line, when everything else fails. You can go blind, irreversibly. Please people, speak to trained medical people before reaching to the drug cabinet. I am not a doctor. This advice is not meant to contradict the rule of only taking medical advice from medical professionals.
To the plus side, its cheap. So, absent drug companies motivations to make cheap drugs (low) it is affordable at scale, and if it turned out to be useful e.g. early in the stage of the disease, this might be very good for wild infections. Or, maybe it points to drugs which are safer, equally cheap, and able to be made with less side effects.
(see rule one: this is not medical advice)
Re: Chloroquine has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of Covid-19
#67It should go without saying that we can cheerlead for the emergence of effective treatments, but actual treatment decisions should be made by a doctor.
> actual treatment decisions should be made by a doctor. Medical advice is given by doctors and other health professionals. Treatment decisions are made by patients, those entrusted by patients to make decisions, or parents, guardians, or custodians who make decisions on behalf of patients.
I take your point, but prescriptions need to be made by doctors, and that is the main point here.
I actually have more nuanced views on this. Doctors are not gods, and there are situations where patients have better medical knowledge than the doctor on an important issue. But based on what I've seen so far (including confidently spread misinformation on HN) I strongly suspect that numerically these cases are far outweighed by people with just enough knowledge to be dangerous. That's all am cautioning here.
Re: Chloroquine has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of Covid-19
#68So I’m not seeing mention of this anywhere else chloroquine is being talked about.
Chloroquine used to be taken daily in many of the tropical Britain colonies suffering from malaria.
chloroquine in the form of quinine is where the gin and tonic drink came from. Quinine mixed with carbonated water was drunk as a prophylactic.
The quinine tasted so terrible it had to be cut with something to make it tolerable - gin! That’s where gin and tonic came from - anti malaria treatment in the British colonies.
If you look at tonic water even today you’ll find quinine listed as an ingredient.
As a cheap, safe bet it’s not unreasonable to start having a g&t each day along with a zinc pill.
The more you know.
Re: Chloroquine has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of Covid-19
#69Re: Chloroquine has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of Covid-19
#70So I’m not seeing mention of this anywhere else chloroquine is being talked about. Chloroquine used to be taken daily in many of the tropical Britain colonies suffering from malaria. chloroquine in the form of quinine is where the gin and tonic drink came from. Quinine mixed with carbonated water was drunk as a prophylactic. The quinine tasted so terrible it had to be cut with something to make it tolerable - gin! Th…
I recently spent three years driving around Africa. Chloroquine is still a very common anti-malarial in many parts of the continent.