Much of this debate in our media appears to be centered on semantics.
Having read a fair amount of stuff and listened to some doctors with good reputations we must all start at one point.
HCQ is NOT a cure. There is no “cure” and there likely won’t be until we either develop a vaccine for those without anti-bodies or “herd immunity.” We have never “cured” a virus to my knowledge.
HCQ appears to be a promising treatment for coronavirus that can (and has) reduce the mortality rate as it dampens the viral “bloom” that is creating pneumonia in severely ill patients resulting in their intubation and subsequent death from pneumonia. It can help you recover faster and lessen the chance your lungs get overwhelmed and you end up on a ventilator with a higher likelihood of death.
If it is an effective treatment (and it appears to be) that can prevent this viral bloom or mitigate the impact of the viral bloom on the body (primarily the lungs) and help people recover faster it will be an important step in mitigating this pandemic.
At this point, if I am diagnosed as positive and become ill I would certainly ask for it based on what I have read and heard with the understanding that there are no certainties it will work. It appears to be far more effective if administered early in the infection as it can lessen the severity of the illness by slowing the replication of the virus. This is how it is described as an anti-malarial. It does not “prevent” you from contracting malaria - it lessens the severity of the illness.
Feel free to bash this as it is only my semi-educated understanding of it.
Great summary. That’s what I’ve been saying for the longest time since HCQ was presented to the public for CoVid-19.
As I read Dr. Raoult’s studies in Marseille, France and Dr. Vladimir Zelenko’s treatment protocol on nearly 800 patients in upstate New York, I also conclude that HCQ + Azithromycin is most effective in Covid-19 positive patients who exhibit symptoms but are NOT YET at the point of intubation.
With these patients, HCQ + Azithromycin has been shown to be effective at:
1) Shortening a patient’s stay in the hospital, thus,reducing significantly the burden of healthcare workers.
2) Preventing further progression of the disease by modulating the immune system’s response to the virus and thus helping it attack the invader.
Anecdotal evidence in many parts of the USA do show that it even helps patients already on respirators recover, however, this still needs to be studied.