These Drugs Are Helping Our Coronavirus Patients

Wall Street Journal ^ | 22 March 2020 | Jeff Colyer and Daniel Hinthorn

[Sarcasm Factory]

On March 9 a team of researchers in China published results showing hydroxychloroquine was effective against the 2019 coronavirus in a test tube. The authors suggested a five-day, 12-pill treatment for Covid-19: two 200-milligram tablets twice a day on the first day followed by one tablet twice a day for four more days.

A more recent French study used the drug in combination with azithromycin. Most Americans know azithromycin as the brand name Zithromax Z-Pak, prescribed for upper respiratory infections. The Z-Pak alone doesn’t appear to help fight Covid-19, and the findings of combination treatment are preliminary.

But researchers in France treated a small number of patients with both hydroxychloroquine and a Z-Pak, and 100% of them were cured by day six of treatment. Compare that with 57.1% of patients treated with hydroxychloroquine alone, and 12.5% of patients who received neither.

What’s more, most patients cleared the virus in three to six days rather than the 20 days observed in China. That reduces the time a patient can spread the virus to others. One lesson that should inform the U.S. approach: Use this treatment cocktail early, and don’t wait until a patient is on a ventilator in the intensive-care unit.

A couple of careful studies of hydroxychloroquine are in progress, but the results may take weeks or longer. Infectious-disease experts are already using hydroxychloroquine clinically with some success. With our colleague Dr. Joe Brewer in Kansas City, Mo., we are using hydroxychloroquine in two ways: to treat patients and as prophylaxis to protect health-care workers from infection. . . . As a matter of clinical practice, hydroxychloroquine should be given early to patients who test positive, and perhaps if Covid-19 is presumed—in the case of ill household contacts, for instance.

[Norseman]

Regarding the letter from Dr. Zelenko in post #13:

As President Trump said: “Game Changer”

I hope Maddow reads it and chokes...not to death, but enough to scare her some.

[null and void]

Either that, or I’ll tell them, and they’ll just reject me for the treatment (sigh).

Wait until after you are admitted. "Oh! I almost forgot..."

[Balding_Eagle]

Thanks, I already knew that, but it’s great to see it in writing.

[who knows what evil?]

Agree...IF legit; this letter should be its own thread.

[little jeremiah]

Is there a link for this? Would be awesome if there is, I’d like it.

[Brown Deer]

Arizona man dies after taking chloroquine for coronavirus

March 23 (Reuters) - An Arizona man has died and his wife is in critical condition after they ingested chloroquine phosphate - an aquarium cleaning product similar to drugs that have been named by President Trump as potential treatments for coronavirus infection.

The couple, in their 60s, experienced immediate distress after swallowing the drug, an additive used at aquariums to clean fish tanks, according to Banner Health Hospital in Phoenix.

Chloroquine phosphate shares the same active ingredient as malaria drugs that President Trump has touted as possibly effective against COVID-19, the potentially life-threatening disease caused by the coronavirus.

On Saturday, Trump tweeted about the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, saying it had "a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine."

The nation's top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, played down that claim, saying the therapy must be tested to assure its safety and efficacy.

"Chloroquine, a malaria medication, should not be ingested to treat or prevent this virus," Banner Health said in a statement on Monday.

The new coronavirus, which causes the highly contagious COVID-19 respiratory illness, emerged in December in Wuhan, China and has spread throughout the world.

There are currently no vaccines or treatments approved for the disease, but researchers are studying existing treatments and working on experimental ones. At the moment, most patients can only receive supportive care.

"Given the uncertainty around COVID-19, we understand that people are trying to find new ways to prevent or treat this virus, but self-medicating is not the way to do so," said Dr. Daniel Brooks, Banner Poison and Drug Information Center medical director.

Brooks urged the medical community to not prescribe chloroquine medication to any non-hospitalized patients.

"The last thing that we want right now is to inundate our emergency departments with patients who believe they found a vague and risky solution that could potentially jeopardize their health."

[bitt]

Dr. Zev Zelenko

He’s been interviewed all over tv - he works in a community in Orange county, NY, very infected, one of the first towns identified,and is part of the NY.gov investigating teams. He looks weird but he has good stats.

https://www.health.ny.gov/facilities/public_health_and_health_planning_council/meetings/2020-03-18/docs/exhibits.pdf

now the combo is in widespread testing in NYC area, just approved and testing starting today.

Cuomo Announces 3 Clinical Trials For Coronavirus Treatment In New York | NBC News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddu__qnPHkU

https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-orders-huge-amount-of-hydroxychloroquine-begins-trials-trump-calls-out-medias-double-standard

also New Orleans has been using it in trials

https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/new-orleans-area-hospitals-using-hydroxychloroquine/289-c06de380-355f-492f-a507-7cf2b24770dd

[bitt]

people are getting nervous and waiting for the dems to get knocked down - and it’s a long time coming!

at least they aren’t following you around as stalkers.. :)

[bitt]

my lib friends go all Greta on me (How DARE you go against the CDC!) when I show them the excitement about this, and are just mocking DJT and his enthusiasm.

They might change their tune if they catch the virus! Let them eat fish tank pills!

[bitt]

I found this on some website, this morning..not a joke!

sorry, I’ll never find it again..

[bitt]

” Tuesday morning, the controversial and experimental coronavirus treatment program being run by a Hasidic doctor who claimed he had kept more than 500 symptomatic patients out of the hospital was shut down. By afternoon, after intervention from the White House, it was up and running again.

The doctor, Vladimir Zelenko, has been in isolation because he is immunocompromised. But he is directing perhaps the world’s most extensive, unsanctioned medical experiment related to coronavirus — the use of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19, a something President Donald Trump has been touting for days as a “game changer” in the fight against the virus.”

https://forward.com/news/national/442285/coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-trump-doctor/

https://dcwhispers.com/breaking-noted-new-york-physician-urges-medical-community-to-follow-president-trumps-coronavirus-treatment-plan/

[little jeremiah]

Thank you!

[a little elbow grease]

thank you!

[Mazey]

Please don’t stop posting. Your little pic has alerted me to so many wonderful posts over the years. I followed it long before I got on your ping list! So some of us depend on it, in case we get behind. There is always something new and interesting, and that cart has greatly enhanced my knowledge of history, archeology, medicine, and so much more!

Yep, the reality is that for many centuries, those carts rolled around. I saw the photos of the bodies laid out on the sidewalks in Wuhan. Null and void alerted many of us.

I now sit in the middle of Westchester county; my Physician husband goes into NYC major university/academic hospital every day since this started, and will continue to do so. We are old boomers, and sure as heck not ready to get into that cart.

Thats why we remember history, and that cart is fine shorthand for what history can teach us. Today, in Italy, they use Military Trucks to carry the dead bodies. History repeats itself, sometimes in different garb.

Carts too upsetting? Avert your eyes, wash your hands. And stay safe, God Bless You and your loved ones. And my loved ones too. Especially that stubborn man of mine, who insists on trying to keep that cart empty!

[gogeo]

chloroquine phosphate

Many years out of chemistry, but isn't the medicinal version chloroquine sulfate?

[wastoute]

Treated for 5 days. Which 5 days? March 17 to 23rd? A peer review would not publish that. There has been no time for follow up to make the case it was 100% effective. If he gave the drugs for 5 days and then announced this he didn’t follow up to see if it was actually true. I had my doubts about this when I first read it and they haven’t improved.