Is hydroxychloroquine the miracle drug Donald Trump is making it?...
Dr. Fauci puts potential drug use in perspective...
Donald Trump has touted hydroxychloroquine used to treat malaria for COVID-19, but Dr. Anthony Fauci says it is only anecdotal. Just for grins I looked up the term and here is the definition of anecdotal...
"An adjective, (of an account) not necessarily true or reliable, because it is based on personal accounts rather than facts or research."Plain and simple, it is not yet approved to treat coronavirus, based on lengthy scientific studies. In a pandemic, do you have time for lengthy scientific studies? While the answer to that is probably no, if you do proceed without adequate studies with proven results, are you ready for after and side-effects that could be deadly? That's what the FDA is for, to approve any medication like this going on the market, but not doing so until credible scientists have given the go-ahead.
And we're not there yet, but already there is activity in New York on the drug...
"A [New York] state Health Department official said the DOH has shipped doses of hydroxychloroquine to 56 hospitals across New York, distributing enough “to treat 4,000 patients to date.”Reported by the New York Post, "Patients have received doses as part of four- or 10-day regimens, officials said." Here's the scenario...
"The University of Albany’s School of Public Health is observing the drug’s impact on the patients, and its preliminary study could come back in weeks instead of the usual months, officials said."Trump blocks Dr. Fauci's answer on "anecdotal" hydroxychloroquine...
Clinical trials are being conducted and there is hope there will be results in just weeks, rather than the usual months' wait. The following is new to me but, “Currently, there is no proven way to prevent COVID-19 after being exposed,” So...
“If hydroxychloroquine provides protection, then it could be an essential tool for fighting this pandemic. If it doesn’t, then people should avoid unnecessary risks from taking the drug.”The drugs current use is "to treat malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus." And here is why the expert, Dr. Fauci wants to restrict hydroxychloroquine's wide distribution...
"Its potential side effects include everything from fatal heart arrhythmia to vision loss, ear-ringing, vomiting, mood changes, skin rashes and hair loss."Gov. Andrew Cuomo on New York testing hydroxychloroquine and other similar drugs...
That, most would agree, is a good reason for reluctance to actively push the drug just yet. Apparently no one thinks the it will be a “miracle drug” for COVID-19, but the world is desperately looking for anything to fight this virus. There is a protocol for the studies being done in New York...
"Each day during the 14-day period and then again on Day 28, the participants will swab their nasal passages and send the samples to researchers to detect potential COVID-19 infection.
“'If everything goes as planned, the eight-week trial could provide answers by summer on whether a preventive dose of the drug is safe and effective,’' NYU Langone said in a release."The question, of course, is whether Dr. Fauci will still consider the evidence anecdotal, and if so, will it proceed to limited use, with or without the expert? My gut tells me that, if after the summer period when the study results are in, which are not yet really as scientific as Fauci requires, there will be an all-out war between the factions and guess who will win. And it won't be the American public.