I’ve heard (maybe it was from you!) that zinc is only needed when there is a deficiency. IIRC, Raoult did not use zinc. Also I asked a doctor on FR about zinc, and she said (in a comment somewhere that I am too lazy to find) that her patients were not given zinc because they had no deficiencies.
That is a significant P value if I recall my Bio Pharma stats correctly???? Still not a huge population as Dr. Farci would point out.
Well, we do need one with zinc, to verify or refute the efficacy of the original protocol. Also, the control group were patients who refused the treatment, and a real study should be double-blinded, which raises ethical questions that would put a limit on the study. You can’t double-blind a large group of subjects, if the placebo recipients get deathly ill and die. Following clinical results that far is crossing over to Mangele territory.
The data looks encouraging but I think some research scientists will still object to its reliability. Because the treatment and control groups were not blindly randomized and normalized for age, gender, pre-conditions, etc it might have skewed the data. If the people that refused treatment happened to be more men who were also obese it could distort the endpoint outcomes because of confounding factors.
Not trying to be negative on this but the skeptics will bring these objection up when this is peer reviewed.
The last study you posted was of advanced cases.
This one is the opposite, given in the early days of symptoms.
Advanced coronavirus cases have severely depleted zinc levels.
They need supplemental zinc for it to work.
They didn’t give it, it didn’t work.
Those in the early days of treatment don’t.
They have normal levels of zinc still.
This study showed it worked without zinc for early patients.
Likewise, those treated with hcq as prophylactic don’t need supplemental zinc for it to work.
I think this study supports what many doctors have been saying. I hope now studies show the same results. And I hope the media would quit trashing Trump over this issue.
Zinc is not necessary if a person is not seriously deficient. However, Zinc is a necessary component. HCQ works by providing a pathway into the virus for blood zinc. It is the zinc, once inside the virus that stops viral replication.
So, giving zinc along with the other two components cannot hurt. Not giving it to a patient seriously deficient in Zinc will not be effective or, as effective.