With the daily use of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, US President Trump feels prepared for the coronavirus. He states that. However, there is also a study that found a higher mortality rate in patients when taken in combination with an antibiotic.
US President Donald Trump says he takes malaria medication as a coronavirus prophylaxis. He’s been taking hydroxychloroquine for about a week and a half, Trump said. Trump continued that he had heard “very good things” about the long-approved malaria preparation. When asked for scientific evidence to benefit from such prophylaxis, Trump claimed that he had received many calls and many doctors and nurses were taking it as a precaution. He had coordinated the drug with the White House doctor.
Trump had repeatedly promoted hydroxychloroquine in March and April as a therapy for patients suffering from the lung disease Covid-19 caused by the novel coronavirus. The drug was a “gift from God”, he enthused at the time. At the end of April, however, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned of the alleged miracle cure: There is no reliable evidence of effectiveness against Covid-19, but the drug increases the risk of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, it said. Previously, a study had found higher mortality in patients when taking the drug in combination with an antibiotic.
Lupus, arthritis, Covid-19?
Trump said he also takes zinc to boost the immune system. The 73-year-old emphasized that he had recently had negative coronavirus tests. At first, it remained unclear whether Trump was taking hydroxychloroquine as a prophylaxis against infection with the novel virus or in the hope that the symptoms of Covid would be milder.
Hydroxychloroquine is also approved in the United States for the treatment of autoimmune lupus and arthritis. Several studies are ongoing to investigate the potential benefit of the drug in relation to Covid-19. The U.S. National Health Institute only announced Thursday that there is now a clinical trial of around 2,000 subjects to determine whether taking hydroxychloroquine with the antibiotic azithromycin can reduce hospitalization and deaths in the early stages of the disease.
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