Page 21 - Florida Sentinel 4-24-20
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Health
Since my last article dis- cussing experimental treatments for COVID-19, we have results from a clinical trial conducted in China on the effectiveness of Kaletra (published in the presti- gious New England Journal of Medicine). Unfortunately, the study didn’t show any benefit from the drugs. This illustrates a crucial point for everyone to un- derstand: wait for the research!
Kaletra works against the virus in a test-tube and it seemed to have some benefit in a related coronavirus; it didn’t work against this coronavirus. It is important that the studies be de- signed well with clearly defined
markers of success, otherwise the results may not be clear or offer the wrong answer to the question.
Along these lines, a couple weeks ago, the president touted the drug Chloroquine as a cure for COVID-19 and said that thousands of doses of the drug were being made. This was not true. Chloroquine has not been proven to be effective for this in- fection. As a result of the presi- dent’s claim, a person accessed some questionable source of Chloroquine and died. He hadn’t even been diagnosed with coron- avirus.
Others have overdosed on
the drug and are seriously ill. At this point, I really have to say that for your own safety, PLEASE do not follow the narra- tive coming out of the White House. There is a continuous flow of misinformation and out- right lies that are confusing and dangerous. Absolutely DO NOT follow Fox News reporting or recommendations! These sources have a different motive that is not related to protecting your health.
It is a sad state of affairs when we cannot get clear guid- ance in the midst of a deadly cri- sis. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Dis- eases is an expert infectious dis- ease physician committed to telling the truth about the pan- demic, which is often opposite of the messaging coming out of the White House.
For accurate information, go to the Centers for Disease Con- trol (CDC) website (https://www.cdc.gov/coron- avirus/2019-ncov/index.html). Listen to your state public health
officials and local medical and public health officials and of course, your personal medical providers. Even some governors have politicized the pandemic and are not putting safety proce- dures into place. Consult with your local health departments and the CDC website.
So let’s go back to Chloro- quine. What is it and does it have any potential against COVID-19? During intensive research for new drugs to fight malaria dur- ing World War II, Chloroquine emerged as the champion. Com- pared to an earlier drug, quinine, chloroquine was tremendously less toxic with fewer side-effects and easily taken as a pill. It was also effective in protecting peo- ple from getting infected with malaria (malaria prophylaxis). However, chloroquine was al- most too good to be true and it was used extensively to treat malaria as a single drug allowing the malaria parasite to develop wide-spread resistance to chloroquine all over the world.
It turns out that chloroquine is no “One trick pony.” This drug
has many different actions and in addition to its effects against malaria and other parasites, chloroquine and its cousin, hy- droxychloroquine have anti-in- flammatory properties. Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) in particular was used for decades in treating rheumatoid arthritis and sometimes other inflammatory conditions like Lupus.
It is better tolerated than chloroquine. These anti-inflam- matory effects of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine may be of benefit in patients with COVID-19. They might suppress production of biological com- pounds that drive the inflamma- tory process in the lungs that can lead to pneumonia and lung damage. In addition, chloro- quine and hydroxychloroquine have some specific effects that block viruses through the stages involved in infecting cells and tissues. Hence, there are scien- tific reports showing activity of chloroquine inhibiting the SARS-2 coronavirus in the test- tube.
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