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Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine offer no clinical benefit for people with COVID-19 and might cause serious heart-related side effects, according to a study published Friday in The Lancet. People with severe illness caused by the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, treated with either drug -- either alone or with an antiviral medication -- were up to twice as likely to die than those in the control group, which received standard, supportive care, the researchers found. Those who died did so either as a result of COVID-19 or from side effects from treatment, the authors said. "This is the first large-scale study to find...

PUTRAJAYA: The anti-malarial drug chloroquine has shown its efficacy in the treatment of Covid-19 patients since the first wave of the outbreak in Malaysia, the director-general of health, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, said. He said the drugs’ anti-inflammatory properties were effective in treating Covid-19 which causes inflammation of the lower respiratory tract. Noor Hisham said a similar anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine and a combination of antiviral drugs lopinavir and ritonavir had also been used in the treatment of patients in Malaysia. There had been promising results but further research was still required. Noor Hisham said the number of deaths from Covid-19...

As a virtual unknown nationally, 14-term congressman Duncan Hunter is trying to build a presidential campaign on his sturdy conservative credentials on defense and security policy at a time of war. The decorated Vietnam War veteran has focused his efforts in South Carolina, an early primary state where his hawkish views have found appreciative audiences. Though he represents a San Diego-based congressional district in Southern California, Hunter kicked off his race for the White House in January 2007 in Spartanburg, S.C., with the slogan “America: The Strength of Freedom”. The state is one of the few places where Hunter’s long-shot...

The Republican presidential debate opened with a bang Wednesday night, with front-runners Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney immediately attacking each other on immigration. The CNN-YouTube debate in St. Petersburg, Fla., calmed down after the opening salvos, but still featured criticism and infighting among the eight candidates. The debate used video questions submitted by the public and included inquiries on immigration, conservative values, Iraq and economic issues. While previous debates’ competition appeared to center on who could attack Hillary Rodham Clinton the most, each candidate in this debate sought to come out ahead by contrasting himself with others on the crowded...

The filing deadline for the New Hampshire primary is Nov. 21, so time is running out for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York to run for president unless she can do so without New Hampshire. More on that scenario next month. But while we wait, consider the plans for the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson dinner in Des Moines Nov. 15. According to the tentative agenda, Clinton will speak eight times. She will give introductory remarks and then separately introduce each of the Democratic presidential candidates as they come forward to give speeches. And each entry on the...

Congressional Quarterly's 2004 campaign correspondent Craig Crawford is keeping score on the Democratic Party's pack of presidential hopefuls, and Friday night he delivered his interim assessment. As the race stands now, either Howard Dean or Hillary Clinton will be the Democrats' nominee, he claims - whether or not Sen. Clinton decides to throw her billing records into the ring. Crawford, who doubles as MSNBC's chief political analyst, told ABC Radio network's John Batchelor & Paul Alexander that he handicaps the race on the basis of five factors: money, message, organization, polls and "buzz." On Sen. Clinton's chances to become...