Posted on 08/18/2020 8:04:28 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have added to the growing body of understanding about how hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is not a possible defense against COVID-19.
Specifically, they found that HCQ is not effective in preventing COVID-19 in patients with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), suggesting a broader interpretation of HCQ as ineffective preventive medicine for the general population. Their findings were recently published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
Many researchers have focused on patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and RA because HCQ is frequently taken by these patients. Anecdotal reports in the early stages of the pandemic showed these patients were not getting COVID-19. Earlier researchers then explored HCQ in the lab and found it effective against the virus, in addition to its already established anti-inflammatory properties, so testing in people for prevention or treatment at first held some promise. Since those early tests, various more recent studies have shown that HCQ is not effective in treating moderate-to-severe hospitalized cases. Treatment with HCQ early in the disease or for mild cases is still under review.
"Our study shows, with a large degree of confidence, that HCQ is ineffective as a preventive antiviral in people with SLE and/or RA taking drugs that suppress their immune system, putting them at greater risk," said Mendel Singer, Ph.D., MPH, lead author and associate professor and vice chair for education in the Department of Population & Quantitative Health Sciences at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. "Given how the study was structured, one can make an educated extension that it is not effective in preventing COVID-19 in people without those conditions. It is not uncommon for something to show promise in the lab, and then prove ineffective in the more complex biological landscape of humans."
The Case Western Reserve team drew on a large national database, pulling de-identified patient data from 36 health systems, to compile a much larger study than previous work, looking at patients with SLE and/or RA and their health outcomes related to their use of HCQ. Prior studies had fewer than 20 COVID-19 patients with SLE and/or RA; this study had 159. This study showed that patients with SLE and/or RA who contracted COVID-19 were just as likely to be taking HCQ as SLE and/or RA patients who did not get COVID-19.
"By drawing on data from a relatively large patient population with lupus and/or RA, we can offer a higher level of confidence in our findings," said Singer. "We see from this large retrospective review that this drug is ineffective in preventing COVID-19 in these patients who have been taking HCQ. If HCQ were effective in prevention, we would have seen fewer HCQ-taking SLE/RA patients with COVID-19, but did not. This likely means that HCQ is not active against the SARS-CoV-2 virus in humans—versus in the lab—and is unlikely to be an effective preventive antiviral for anyone."
No it only shows no statistical benefit with people who suffer from immune disorders such as Lupus and RA.
It is proven as a general anti viral preventive for The malaria virus. It has a 60 year proven track record as anti viral.
The headline is deceptive. It was a limited study. It proves nothing.
Isn't that like saying chemo-therapy doesn't work for every cancer patient, so it's useless against cancer?
Hell of an implication....
A large retrospective study that analyzed 159 patient...
It’s a little suspicious that this study did not evaluate the total # of patients with Lupus & RA and compare the # of cases of COVID to # of cases in age matched controls.
I smell cherries being picked. They also don’t tell us how the patient’s COVID status was addressed and whether their courses were mild or severe.
This was a study either poorly designed or rushed out to support an agenda as was the last retracted study.
Here is a study Dr. Vladimir Zelenko endorses in Hi Tweet:
https://twitter.com/zev_dr/status/1260969607592099844?lang=en
COVID-19 Prophylaxis With Hydroxychloroquine Associated With Zinc For High-Risk Healthcare Workers - Full Text View - https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04384458
TITLE: COVID-19 Prophylaxis With Hydroxychloroquine Associated With Zinc For High-Risk Healthcare Workers
Unfortunately, we won’t have the result of the above study until October 2020 ( as the study description tells us ).
Take a look at the conflicts of interest disclosed!
Competing interests PK reports personal fees from GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis, Pfizer, Abbvie, Novartis Pharma, Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb. FB reports personal fees from Boehringer, Bone Therapeutics, Expanscience, Galapagos, Gilead, GSK, Merck Sereno, MSD, Nordic, Novartis, Pfizer, Regulaxis, Roche, Sandoz, Sanofi, Servier, UCB, Peptinov, TRB Chemedica and 4P Pharma. AHK reports grants from National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and Rheumatology Research Foundation and personal fees from Exagen Diagnostics, Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline. Drs Liew and Graef have disclosed no conflicts of interest or competing interests. JAS reports grants from NIH/NIAMS/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/Autoimmune Centers of Excellence, the Rheumatology Research Foundation, the Brigham Research Institute, and the R. Bruce and Joan M. Mickey Research Scholar Fund as well as personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead, Inova, Janssen and Optum.
The body normally has some stores of zinc, from dietary sources, which is utilized in a number of processes in the body, one of which is to tune up the immune responses. In those instances where HCQ is already being administered, the synergistic effect with the bodily stores of zinc with HCQ effectively protects those patients from COVID-19 Wuhan virus, resulting in very low infection rates.
The things I have heard have worked as a preventative were nicotine, selenium and the anti-TB vaccine
“preventing COVID-19 “
I also thought that it was not intended to prevent but to lessen the symptoms
I did not.
Says it all! Good post
Yep, there are already studies out there showing HCQ w/o zinc is ineffective.
RE: I take HCQ and Zinc (Picolinate) prophylactically, and I AM in the high-risk category, by age and profession
I am just curious. Did a doctor prescribe HCQ to you? How are you able to use this prophylactically when so many states in the USA do not allow its use ( the most generous ones only allow it for hospitalized patients ).
RE: I also thought that it was not intended to prevent but to lessen the symptoms
See Post #14 above.
Many are using HCQ for PROPHYLAXIS against Covid-19. In fact, Trump did just that for himself — taking HCQ as a preventative.
What Case Western’s study is telling us is — it doesn’t work.
RE: Another BS study
Can you elaborate?
RE: I think “preventative” is the key word here.
Yes it is. And the Case Western study tells us that it DOES NOT prevent Covid-19
Nobody said HCQ was a preventative. It’s used early on as an effective treatment coupled with zinc and an antibiotic. No need for Gates DNA altering frankencine.
RE: Here they found 159 people who have Lupus or rheumatoid arthritis and got COVID (just 159!) and half of them were on HCQ.
And of course, not mention of the use of ZINC, which is supposed to work SYNERGISTICALLY with HCQ to fight Covid-19 ( as per Dr. Vladimir Zelenko ). You can’t have one without the other for Covid-19.
RE: Their low infection rates are attributed to use of HCQ for malaria
Have they factored in THE NUMBER OF TESTS made in these countries? The USA has as of today, over 65 million tests made. How many tests have these third world countries made on their population? Could that low level to testing not account for the low infection count?
Most researchers working on SARS viruses. In 2004 it was known. You can read an example paper here, and another one here.
More recently there have been many research papers showing the hydroxychloroquine is an effective anti-viral against COVID-19 in vitro.
Simple solution to the pandemic,,,,Make HCQ and Azithromycin OTC drugs so anyone who develops a cough and/or fever can go the nearest drug store and self medicate with the drugs along with Zinc Sulfate with correct dosage within 48 hours of symptoms and pandemic over.,,,,,instead of waiting a few days to get tested and 5 days for the results,,,,if over 60 years of age,,,,you’re dead.
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