Research Paper released over the weekend:
Clinical and microbiological effect of a combination of hydroxychloroquine and
azithromycin in 80 COVID-19 patients with at least a six-day follow up: an observational study
Running title: Hydroxychloroquine-Azithromycin and COVID-19
Abstract
We need an effective treatment to cure COVID-19 patients and to decrease the virus carriage
duration. In 80 in-patients receiving a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin
we noted a clinical improvement in all but one 86 year-old patient who died, and one 74 year
old patient still in intensive care unit. A rapid fall of nasopharyngeal viral load tested by
qPCR was noted, with 83% negative at Day7, and 93% at Day8. Virus cultures from patient
respiratory samples were negative in 97.5% patients at Day5. This allowed patients to rapidly
de discharge from highly contagious wards with a mean length of stay of five days. We
believe other teams should urgently evaluate this cost-effective therapeutic strategy, to both
avoid the spread of the disease and treat patients as soon as possible before severe respiratory
irreversible complications take hold.
