5 ms·

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxychloroquine#Research https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxychloroquine#Research ... > Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine h

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxychloroquine#Research https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxychloroquine#Research ... > Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have been recommended by Chinese and South Korean health authorities for the treatment COVID-19.[31] [32] In vitro studies have demonstrated that hydroxychloroquine is more potent than chloroquine against SARS-CoV-2 with a more tolerable safety profile.[33] > On 16 March 2020, advisor to the French Government on COVID-19, Professor Didier Raoult, announced that a non-randomized unblinded trial[34] involving 24 patients from the south east of France supported the claim that hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment for COVID-19.[35] The trial is yet to be peer-reviewed.[34] An amount of 600 mg of hydroxychloroquine (brand name Plaquenil) was administered to these patients every day for 10 days. They reported "a significant decrease in viral load".[34] The drug appeared to be responsible for a "rapid and effective speeding up of their healing process, and a sharp decrease in the amount of time they remained contagious".[36] 70% of patients were "considered cured", compared with 12.5% of those who did not receive hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin combination.[34] The antibiotic azithromycin - which is known to be effective against secondary infections from bacterial lung disease - led to even better outcomes. Professor Raoult said the results showed there was "a spectacular reduction in the number of positive cases" with the combination therapy. At 6 days, among patients given combination therapy, the percentage of cases still carrying SARS-CoV-2 was no more than 5%.[37][38] > On March 17 after testing in several hospitals around Italy the Italian Pharmaceutical Agency has included hydroxychloroquine in the list of drugs with positive preliminary results for treatment of coronavirus disease 2019.[39] ---- What is strange is that azithromycin - leads to better outcomes. It is used for bacterial infections but Covid is a virus. How can this be?

kian 7y ago
I would guess that opportunistic bacterial co-infections are being suppressed by the azithromycin, which leaves more room for the immune system to respond directly to SARS-CoV-2. Viral Pneuomonia can easily lead to Bacterial Pneumonia. Combined with an attack directly on SARS-CoV-2, and you get a combination therapy that hopefully works.
- didgeoridoo 7y ago
  While your explanation seems the most likely, macrolide compounds like Azithromycin may actually have direct antiviral effects of their own: https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/45/2/428 https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/45/2/428
  - kian 7y ago
    Thank you for that! I had no idea Azithromycin had those effects.
  - masonic 7y ago
    That's against rhinovirus, not coronavirus.
    - didgeoridoo 7y ago
      The study focused on rhinoviruses because they are the dominant source of viral morbidity in CF patients. If their proposed MoA (interferon agonist in epithelial cells) is correct, there’s a good reason to believe the antiviral effect is nonspecific to rhinovirus.
- JamesBarney 7y ago
  I thought the same things when I saww these type of effect in antibiotics, but lots of antibiotics have lots of off target effects. Minocycline for instance might be helpful with depression and MS. And it's usually not through the bacterial co-infections route unless you find the same effect with all broad spectrum anti-biotics.
- hinkley 7y ago
  I recall vividly an article about the importance of physical fitness and in particular stability exercises in old age. The author proposed that a lot of people die from a broken hip, but you don’t see it in the death statistics because the proximal cause of death is pneumonia brought on by confinement to bed after the injury. The domino you have some control over is not falling and hurting yourself so badly in the first place. The flu doesn’t last as long, but it brings fluid to the lungs. Protecting from infection is huge.
deleted 7y ago
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kian 7y ago

I would guess that opportunistic bacterial co-infections are being suppressed by the azithromycin, which leaves more room for the immune system to respond directly to SARS-CoV-2. Viral Pneuomonia can easily lead to Bacterial Pneumonia. Combined with an attack directly on SARS-CoV-2, and you get a combination therapy that hopefully works.

didgeoridoo 7y ago
While your explanation seems the most likely, macrolide compounds like Azithromycin may actually have direct antiviral effects of their own: https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/45/2/428 https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/45/2/428
- kian 7y ago
  Thank you for that! I had no idea Azithromycin had those effects.
- masonic 7y ago
  That's against rhinovirus, not coronavirus.
  - didgeoridoo 7y ago
    The study focused on rhinoviruses because they are the dominant source of viral morbidity in CF patients. If their proposed MoA (interferon agonist in epithelial cells) is correct, there’s a good reason to believe the antiviral effect is nonspecific to rhinovirus.
JamesBarney 7y ago
I thought the same things when I saww these type of effect in antibiotics, but lots of antibiotics have lots of off target effects. Minocycline for instance might be helpful with depression and MS. And it's usually not through the bacterial co-infections route unless you find the same effect with all broad spectrum anti-biotics.
hinkley 7y ago
I recall vividly an article about the importance of physical fitness and in particular stability exercises in old age. The author proposed that a lot of people die from a broken hip, but you don’t see it in the death statistics because the proximal cause of death is pneumonia brought on by confinement to bed after the injury. The domino you have some control over is not falling and hurting yourself so badly in the first place. The flu doesn’t last as long, but it brings fluid to the lungs. Protecting from infection is huge.

deleted 7y ago

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