4 ms·

It would be nice to just look at the science without denoising the HCQ boosterism by the right (Trump was right!) and the demonization of HCQ by the left (Fauci

It would be nice to just look at the science without denoising the HCQ boosterism by the right (Trump was right!) and the demonization of HCQ by the left (Fauci was right!). This has really muddled the issue, but thankfully, only in the US. The rest of the world seems to be carrying on (edit: study was done in NJ). Also, just like Vit. D, the science of disentangling the causal power of HCQ in various combos seems very hard. I think this issue will be debated for a very long time.

PaulHoule 5y ago
Actually small molecules rarely work against viruses inside an intact organism; counter that with immunobiology (convalescent plasma, monoclonal antibodies, nanobodies, ...) almost always working. It is like the drumbeat of articles on "Substance X extended the life of mice by 15%" that don't contextualize it like so: a human is an extremely long-lived animal, your heart is good for 4 billion beats, the mouse died at 1 billion beats, you would need at least 10 interventions that work independently to get the mouse longevity up to the human standard. People don't want to die, however, so they eat that kind of article up.
- haltingproblem 5y ago
  Your first point is very good. Covid-19 is caused by a virus. The resulting etiology has a complex interaction with underlying conditions resulting in bacterial and other viral infections. The fact that so many doctors, who I agree are not scientists and often ill equipped to tease apart causality, seem to be experimenting with it, should at least give us pause to look at it with a neutral posture. HCQ's incredible efficacy and safety, probably billions of doses are ingested every year, makes it a good candidate for this investigation.
SonOfKyuss 5y ago
Is countering unproven and potentially dangerous medical advice by saying "wait for the evidence" really demonization? And it wasn't just the left saying that. Just because the right pushes something doesn't make everyone who disagrees with that "the left".

PaulHoule 5y ago

Actually small molecules rarely work against viruses inside an intact organism; counter that with immunobiology (convalescent plasma, monoclonal antibodies, nanobodies, ...) almost always working. It is like the drumbeat of articles on "Substance X extended the life of mice by 15%" that don't contextualize it like so: a human is an extremely long-lived animal, your heart is good for 4 billion beats, the mouse died at 1 billion beats, you would need at least 10 interventions that work independently to get the mouse longevity up to the human standard. People don't want to die, however, so they eat that kind of article up.

haltingproblem 5y ago
Your first point is very good. Covid-19 is caused by a virus. The resulting etiology has a complex interaction with underlying conditions resulting in bacterial and other viral infections. The fact that so many doctors, who I agree are not scientists and often ill equipped to tease apart causality, seem to be experimenting with it, should at least give us pause to look at it with a neutral posture. HCQ's incredible efficacy and safety, probably billions of doses are ingested every year, makes it a good candidate for this investigation.

SonOfKyuss 5y ago

Is countering unproven and potentially dangerous medical advice by saying "wait for the evidence" really demonization? And it wasn't just the left saying that. Just because the right pushes something doesn't make everyone who disagrees with that "the left".