Otherwise, we’ve caught a bad case of the stupids and it’s looking terminal. I’m talking about hydroxychloroquine as treatment for COVID obviously. HCQ’s introduction to the casual news consumer arrived either via a trump tweet, or a news article about a trump tweet. However, weeks before this, Chinese doctors were said to have some success with the drug and there was a doctor in France, Dr. Didier Raoult, reporting very good results when pairing HCQ with the antibiotic, azythromycin. Reference this article for more on Dr. Raoult and some associated rabbit holes (if you’re into that). An American doctor, Vladimir Zelenko, tried administering a combination of HCQ, azythromycin and zinc to suspected COVID patients and he was so amazed at his results that he created a YouTube account, uploaded a video detailing his experience and addressed it to the president (it should be pointed out that off-label use of HCQ for COVID at the time was completely illegal). Hydroxychloroquine may have remained an obscure medication to be trialed by renegade doctors in small numbers. But then this happened:
And the world lost it’s mind… There is a large, influential segment of the population that stake their identity on resistance to Donald Trump. That’s not a healthy way to live, but that’s reality and because of this, there were the predictable pronouncements from the usual suspects about the drawbacks of HCQ and the lack of “science”. And then someone DIED. The tagline would end up being that “Trump has blood on his hands” for encouraging people to self medicate with unproven off-label treatments. Then came the studies. In quick succession, a handful of studies were released that said HCQ was on a spectrum ranging from marginally beneficial to outright harmful. However, none of the studies used HCQ in tandem with other drugs the way Dr. Raoult or Dr. Zelenko did and most of the studies focused on HCQ’s effectiveness for ventilated patients. It’s worth mentioning that antiviral treatments are most useful when used at the beginning of the disease and if you are on a ventilator… well that’s the end. Chris Martenson has a great summary of the HCQ “controversy”, please click the link to learn more.
I’m sure we would all have preferred if Trump had said something more diplomatic like “we’re fast tracking research efforts and as a result I’m advising the FDA to allow off-label usage of many promising pharmaceuticals so that doctors on the front lines can be free to do what THEY think is best for THEIR patients.” He didn’t say it quite like that, but that is what he did. As of March 24th, doctors are now allowed to try HCQ for their COVID patients.
Before I wrap this up, I just have to point out the insanity of the couple that poisoned themselves with chloroquine. This actually happened: a lady was going through her pantry and saw that her fish aquarium cleaner has “chloroquine” as an active ingredient so she and her husband took a spoonful of the stuff with some soda- she was hospitalized, the husband died. I don’t think it’s fair to blame the president or hydroxychloquine, this couple was a Darwin award waiting to happen.
Lastly, I have to point out that we’re still waiting for a good study on HCQ before we throw all our eggs in that basket, but we should ALL be praying for a cheap and effective antiviral treatment over ANY prospective vaccine. I’m no anti-vaxxer but some of the news surrounding the global vaccination push is downright creepy. More on that later.
SwalesOnContour.com 