Keep taking the hydroxychloroquine and you won't get blind, hey?
Or covid-19.
Dozens of people taking hydroxychloroquine and other treatments for chronic rheumatologic diseases have become infected with Covid-19, according to an analysis of emerging data that is a sign the drugs may not protect people fromthe new coronavirus.
More than five dozen people with chronic ailments like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis were taking medications such as hydroxychloroquine before being diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to data compiled by the Global Rheumatology Alliance, a coalition of rheumatologists, researchers and patients, and published in a medical journal Thursday.
Meanwhile, about 190 patients with the chronic diseases who were taking hydroxychloroquine reported in surveys to the alliance that they contracted Covid-19. Doctors also say they have treated individuals with coronavirus who were lupus patients taking hydroxychloroquine.
Researchers say the published data and surveys may be small but already show that hydroxychloroquine doesn’t fully protect people from contracting the new virus.
“It’s not a magic bullet because people that are on it are contracting the infection,” said Jinoos Yazdany, chief of the division of rheumatology at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, who is helping lead the alliance’s research.
The published data doesn’t address whether hydroxychloroquine is effective at treating coronavirus symptoms. Doctors are using it and a similar antimalarial, chloroquine, to try to treat coronavirus patients, though neither drug is approved for that purpose.
Researchers note the surveys and published data are early and don’t constitute a clinical trial, a test that proves whether a drug is safe and works.
