Does use of hydroxychloroquine treat COVID-19?

06/08/2020

FALSE:Does use of hydroxychloroquine treat COVID-19?

Studies show that hydroxychloroquine does not cure COVID-19 and that it causes heart complications among patients.

A claim that went viral on Facebook where an American medical practitioner Stella Immanuel that she has successfully treated more than 350 people with COVID-19 using hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and Zithromax is not true.

Hydroxychloroquine has traditionally been used to treat malaria and other conditions such as arthritis and lupus. It has also been used to reduce fever and inflammation, and the hope has been that it could also inhibit the virus that causes COVID-19.

All her claims were refuted by the US Food and Drug Administration and cautioned  against using hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients.

Another study involving 11,000 COVID-19 patients conducted by Oxford University in the UK also concluded that “there is no beneficial effect of hydroxychloroquine on patients hospitalized with COVID-19,” and has now pulled the drug from the trial.

Meanwhile, trials launched by the World Health Organization and partners to assess the viability of the drug were also scrapped after it produced “little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized patients”. Likewise, the Food and Drug Administration declined to approve the drug for the treatment of COVID-19, over concerns it posed a risk of causing heart rhythm problems.

Therefore, the claim that hydroxychloroquine cures COVID-19 is false.

Research done by pesacheck on the  study which was conducted by the FDA shows that the use of hydroxychloroquine on hospitalized COVID-19 patients is linked to heart problems. It is therefore inaccurate to say that hydroxychloroquine is not associated with heart complications.

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