As the world continues to be enveloped in the Coronavirus outbreak with newer cases being added day by day and no signs of abating, there is a growing concern on the lack of treatment ad cure for this deadly infection.
A group of French researchers have introduced an air of optimism in the treatment of COVID 19 through early stages of clinical trials which suggest that the hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin combination may show positive results in the treatment of coronavirus infected patients.
A combination was used to treat an infected Chinese patient with new coronavirus strains and effective results were observed
The viral load in the nasopharyngeal swabs of patients suffering from COVID 19 was tested daily between early March to March 16th; after they had been were administered 600 mg of hydroxychloroquine was administered daily to a group of patients suffering from COVID-19 after that azithromycin was also added.
After sometime out of the 22 patients who were treated showed a great reduction of the viral carriage in a period of three to six days after this drug combination was used. This result revealed that a combination of both these drugs could treat COVID 19 patients and help them recover.
These drugs were experimented on a small group of affected people and it was obvious that with the hydroxychloroquine treatment to which azithromycin was added could either lessen or completely eliminate the virus in affected people.
Both these are oral drugs the former used in the treatment of malaria and other inflammatory conditions while the latter is used to treat pneumonia and bronchitis.
These drugs come with a warning to be used with caution especially on patients with pre-existing conditions. The drugs are linked to QT prolongation and delayed “ventricular repolarisation. “
It is important to note that although the clinical trials look promising, the process of reviewing and approving is underway, research is still pending and there is no clear cut instruction as yet to use it on the general public.
President Donald Trump in a recent tweet has welcomed this new discovery development and looks at it as one of “the biggest game changers “in the field of medicine!
