Fri 03 July 2020:
An antimalarial drug helped reduce deaths in hospitalized patients infected with Covid-19, according to a large retrospective study published Thursday.
Controversial antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which is touted by some world leaders and roundly rejected by others, has helped reduce coronavirus mortalities in hospitalized patients, according to a retrospective study by the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Coronavirus patients treated with the drug hydroxychloroquine within the first two days of admission were more likely to survive than patients who received other treatment, according to the study, which was published online by the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Published online on Thursday, the study analyzed medical records of 2,541 patients and found that hydroxychloroquine can really help if given during the early stages of contracting the virus and at the right dose. So far, several other studies have not found it useful, and health officials in the US and in many other countries withdrew the drug’s authorization for emergency use.
Patients were given 400 mg of hydroxychloroquine twice on the first day, followed by 200 mg twice a day the following four days, the researchers said.
Marcus Zevos, head of the infectious-diseases divisin for Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan, and one of the co-authors of the study, told Wall Street Journal that they gave the drug early to patients.
“If it’s given late in therapy, it’s going to have relatively more limited benefits,” he said.
The peer-reviewed study found about 13% of the patients who received hydroxychloroquine died, compared with 26% patients who did not receive the medication.
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