Scientists have linked the death of 17 thousand COVID patients to taking an anti-malaria drug
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About 16.9 thousand people could have died after taking the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the United States, according to French scientists who published their study in the journal Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy.
“Hydroxychloroquine was prescribed to hospitalized COVID patients despite the low level of evidence for the effectiveness of these drugs. The number of deaths of hospitalized patients taking hydroxychloroquine is estimated at 16,900, but could be even higher,” says the article, prepared by six medical scientists from France working at the University of Quebec in Canada.
Hydroxychloroquine is used to treat malaria and is also prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other autoimmune diseases.
The study was conducted from March to June 2020 and covers only part of the first wave of the pandemic. It was then, as scientists note, that hydroxychloroquine was prescribed to patients with coronavirus and suspected COVID especially often. The authors of the scientific article note that in June 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the termination of trials of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID due to heart problems identified in patients. The Russian Ministry of Health excluded hydroxychloroquine from recommendations for the treatment of coronavirus in May 2021.
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