A VERY DISTURBING RESULT OF HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE TESTING

A new study of hydroxychloroquine usage for COVID-19 sufferers has just been released, and the results – which fly in the face of virtually every other study we have seen so far – are very disturbing.

From Nathaniel Weixel’s article at thehill.com:

An anti-malaria drug touted by President Trump as a potential “game changer” amid the coronavirus outbreak showed no benefit for patients, according to an analysis of those hospitalized in Veterans Health Administration medical centers.

The analysis found the two primary outcomes for COVID-19 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine were death and the need for mechanical ventilation. 

The analysis was conducted retrospectively, based on data from patients hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infections in all Veterans Health Administration medical centers until April 11.

The analysis examined 97 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine alone, 113 treated with a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, and the rest with neither drug.

According to the analysis, about 28 percent of patients who were given hydroxychloroquine plus the usual care died, versus 11 percent of those getting routine care alone.

I have to admit there is a major red flag here – that more than twice as many hydroxychloroquine users died as those who did not use it.  To believe this, you would have to believe that hydroxychloroquine not only doesn’t help, it facilitates the death of patients.  No other study of any size I have come across anywhere shows any such result.

But if these data are accurate, it obviously puts a major monkey wrench into the prospects for hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the virus that we have not seen at all until now.

It officially moves me from “why wouldn’t you use it, what do you have to lose”, to “let’s wait for more information.”