The Connexion: French news and views
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A renowned French researcher reports successful results from a new treatment for Covid-19, with early tests suggesting it can stop the virus from being contagious in just six days in 75 percent of cases.
Didier Raoult, a professor at l'Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée Infection in the French city of Marseille published a video explaining the trials on March 16.
Raoult, an infectious diseases specialist has been working on behalf of the French government to research possible treatments of Covid-19.
He said that the first Covid-19 patients he had treated with the drug chloroquine had seen a rapid and effective speeding up of their healing process, and a sharp decrease in the amount of time they remained contagious.
Chloroquine is normally used mainly to prevent and treat malaria.
The treatment was offered to 24 patients, who were among the first to become infected in the south east of France, and who had voluntarily admitted themselves to hospital for the process.
Patients were given 600 milligrams per day for 10 days. They were closely monitored, as the drug occasionally interacts with other medicines, with severe consequences. [It was reported elsewhere that the treatment was supplemented with antibiotic therapy.]
Professor Raoult said his team treated nearly all Covid-19 patients sent from the towns of Nice and Avignon.
“We were able to ascertain that patients who had not received Plaquenil [a drug that contains a form of chloroquine] were still contagious after six days, but of those that had received Plaquenil, after six days, only 25 percent were still contagious.”
Chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine have previously been used to treat coronavirus patients in China, in ongoing Covid-19 clinical trials.
Kaletra, a U.S.-based antiviral drug normally used to treat HIV, is another medicine that is being tested in the fight against Covid-19.
U.S. academic study concurs
A new academic study, published on Friday March 13 by U.S. scientific researchers, also said that chloroquine appeared to be an effective treatment, and appears to align with the findings in France.
It said: “Use of chloroquine (tablets) is showing favorable outcomes in humans infected with Coronavirus, including faster time to recovery and shorter hospital stay.
“Research shows that chloroquine also has strong potential as a prophylactic (preventive) measure against coronavirus in the lab, while we wait for a vaccine to be developed.
“Chloroquine is an inexpensive, globally available drug that has been in widespread human use since 1945 against malaria, autoimmune and various other conditions…[it] can be prescribed to adults and children of all ages.
"It can also be safely taken by pregnant women and nursing mothers [and] has been widely used to treat human diseases, such as malaria, amoebiosis, HIV, and autoimmune diseases, without significant detrimental side effects.”
Researchers worldwide are continuing to work on developing a vaccine against Covid-19.
So far, no country - nor the World Health Organisation (WHO) - has officially published treatment measures against Covid-19, but in China and South Korea, guidelines already outline the use of chloroquine as an “effective treatment”, the study report said.
Didier Raoult, a professor at l'Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée Infection in the French city of Marseille published a video explaining the trials on March 16.
Raoult, an infectious diseases specialist has been working on behalf of the French government to research possible treatments of Covid-19.
He said that the first Covid-19 patients he had treated with the drug chloroquine had seen a rapid and effective speeding up of their healing process, and a sharp decrease in the amount of time they remained contagious.
Chloroquine is normally used mainly to prevent and treat malaria.
The treatment was offered to 24 patients, who were among the first to become infected in the south east of France, and who had voluntarily admitted themselves to hospital for the process.
Patients were given 600 milligrams per day for 10 days. They were closely monitored, as the drug occasionally interacts with other medicines, with severe consequences. [It was reported elsewhere that the treatment was supplemented with antibiotic therapy.]
Professor Raoult said his team treated nearly all Covid-19 patients sent from the towns of Nice and Avignon.
“We were able to ascertain that patients who had not received Plaquenil [a drug that contains a form of chloroquine] were still contagious after six days, but of those that had received Plaquenil, after six days, only 25 percent were still contagious.”
Chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine have previously been used to treat coronavirus patients in China, in ongoing Covid-19 clinical trials.
Kaletra, a U.S.-based antiviral drug normally used to treat HIV, is another medicine that is being tested in the fight against Covid-19.
U.S. academic study concurs
A new academic study, published on Friday March 13 by U.S. scientific researchers, also said that chloroquine appeared to be an effective treatment, and appears to align with the findings in France.
It said: “Use of chloroquine (tablets) is showing favorable outcomes in humans infected with Coronavirus, including faster time to recovery and shorter hospital stay.
“Research shows that chloroquine also has strong potential as a prophylactic (preventive) measure against coronavirus in the lab, while we wait for a vaccine to be developed.
“Chloroquine is an inexpensive, globally available drug that has been in widespread human use since 1945 against malaria, autoimmune and various other conditions…[it] can be prescribed to adults and children of all ages.
"It can also be safely taken by pregnant women and nursing mothers [and] has been widely used to treat human diseases, such as malaria, amoebiosis, HIV, and autoimmune diseases, without significant detrimental side effects.”
Researchers worldwide are continuing to work on developing a vaccine against Covid-19.
So far, no country - nor the World Health Organisation (WHO) - has officially published treatment measures against Covid-19, but in China and South Korea, guidelines already outline the use of chloroquine as an “effective treatment”, the study report said.
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