Every GI in Viet Nam during the war years was issued chloroquine pills, to be taken daily to ward off malaria.
As far as I know, there were few reactions. But, as it happened, when I was given massive doses of the drug in order to counter amoebic dysentery, I was one of those rare individuals shaken by a grand mal seizure. Doctors continued to give me the drug, but in order to calm my system also administered barbiturates. That worked. I recovered from the dysentery with no more seizures.
In the event that it might help, President Trump cleared the drug for use against Covid-19. Though it was not known whether it is effective, several countries have recently reported that it had helped mitigate Covid-19 cases. Even so, there have been no conclusive pharmaceutical studies to back up the claims. The World Health Organization lists chloroquine phosphate as an essential medicine for its treatment of malaria but has not approved the drug for treating those infected by the coronavirus.
Trump said Thursday that as chloroquine and another drug, remdesivir, have well-known effects, there was little harm in permitting doctors to deploy them in hope of combating Covid-19. He said federal health officials are removing barriers in attempts to roll out potential treatments as fast as possible.
Remdesivir, which is still in the experimental phase, is thought to work by blocking the Covid-19 virus from reproducing itself in the body.
"It basically stops the production of the virus," Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and director of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group in Rochester, Minnesota, told NBC News.
As far as I know, there were few reactions. But, as it happened, when I was given massive doses of the drug in order to counter amoebic dysentery, I was one of those rare individuals shaken by a grand mal seizure. Doctors continued to give me the drug, but in order to calm my system also administered barbiturates. That worked. I recovered from the dysentery with no more seizures.
In the event that it might help, President Trump cleared the drug for use against Covid-19. Though it was not known whether it is effective, several countries have recently reported that it had helped mitigate Covid-19 cases. Even so, there have been no conclusive pharmaceutical studies to back up the claims. The World Health Organization lists chloroquine phosphate as an essential medicine for its treatment of malaria but has not approved the drug for treating those infected by the coronavirus.
Trump said Thursday that as chloroquine and another drug, remdesivir, have well-known effects, there was little harm in permitting doctors to deploy them in hope of combating Covid-19. He said federal health officials are removing barriers in attempts to roll out potential treatments as fast as possible.
Remdesivir, which is still in the experimental phase, is thought to work by blocking the Covid-19 virus from reproducing itself in the body.
"It basically stops the production of the virus," Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and director of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group in Rochester, Minnesota, told NBC News.
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