UNILAG AD
  • The Membership Club
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
      • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • #PandoraPapers
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
      • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • #PandoraPapers
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
Coronavirus: Covid-19

Coronavirus: Covid-19

Coronavirus patients treated with Hydroxychloroquine stand high risk of death – Study

byAbdulkareem Mojeed
May 24, 2020
Reading Time: 3 mins read
4

A new study says hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, puts COVID-19 patients at a higher risk of death.

The study, titled “Chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19: Why might they be hazardous?” published on Friday in the Lancet journal, highlighted that patients who took chloroquine, which hydroxychloroquine is derived from, were also more likely to develop irregular heart rhythms.

Chloroquine is a synthetic drug introduced in the 1940s. It is a member of an important series of chemically related agents known as quinoline derivatives. Hydroxychloroquine is a related compound that was introduced in 1955.

Both drugs are used in the treatment of tropical diseases such as malaria and amebiasis, a parasitic disease also known as amebic dysentery. They are also useful in the treatment of various skin conditions and diseases of the joints such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

U.S. President Donald Trump had at a press briefing in the White House said he had been using hydroxychloroquine to protect himself against COVID-19.

However, Nigeria’s Presidential Task Force (PTF) on coronavirus at a daily briefing warned Nigerians against using the drug. It said the drug has not been declared a cure for the disease and further warned of the possibility of chloroquine poisoning if one indulges in self-medication with the drug.

Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, who was the index case of COVID-19 in his state, had told journalists early this month that he was administered with Chloroquine, Zithromax, and Vitamin C during his successful treatment for the disease.

The governor said COVID-19 patients in the state would, henceforth, be treated with the drugs. He said he would rather ask medics managing the state’s COVID-19 patients to treat them with chloroquine and Zithromax than watch them die of the disease.

The National Agency for Food Administration and Control (NAFDAC), in an apparent reaction to the governor’s statement, warned Nigerians not to use any drug for the treatment of COVID-19 that is not approved by the NCDC.

TEXEM Advert

“The agency is concerned about reports on social and other media of drugs or vaccines to cure COVID 19,” NAFDAC’s Director-General, Mojisola Adeyeye, had said in a statement.

Chloroquine was widely used in Nigeria and other parts of the world where malaria is endemic until it was abolished after people started developing resistance to it, a senior resident neurologist with the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Daniel Otokpa, told PREMIUM TIMES.

He said some chloroquine also affects the proper functioning of the eyes and the ears.

“But that wasn’t the reason it was abolished,” he said, stressing that it was dropped because studies revealed that people were developing resistance to it.

Methodology

The new study on the drug and COVID-19 looked at more than 96,000 patients from 671 hospitals across six continents.

Researchers of the study at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and other institutions looked at patients who were hospitalised with COVID-19 between December 20 and April 14.

Findings

It said 14,888 patients were treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, either alone or in combination with a macrolide. The remaining 81,144 patients were in the control group.

It said nearly 10,700 patients died in the hospital. The study found that after controlling for multiple factors, including age, race, sex and underlying health conditions, there was a 34 per cent increase in the risk of mortality for patients who took hydroxychloroquine and a 137 per cent increased risk of serious heart arrhythmia.

The study revealed that hydroxychloroquine is known to have serious side effects, including muscle weakness and heart arrhythmia.

According to CNBC news, a small study in Brazil was halted for safety reasons after coronavirus patients taking chloroquine developed arrhythmia, including some who died.

It said Hydroxychloroquine, which has been repeatedly touted by Mr Trump as a potential game changer in fighting the coronavirus, is also often used by doctors to treat rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Numerous clinical trials are looking to see if it is effective in fighting the coronavirus, but it is not a proven treatment.

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • WhatsApp
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket


Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate



TEXT AD: Call Willie - +2348098788999






PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

Nigerian agencies fight on social media over office space

Next Post

Southeast Governors reject IGP’s template for community policing

Abdulkareem Mojeed

Abdulkareem Mojeed

More News

Handcuffs

How bank robbery prank landed Nigerian skit maker in prison

August 15, 2022
EFCC, Army Arrest 120 Suspected Oil Thieves in Port Harcourt

EFCC, Army arrest 120 suspected oil thieves (PHOTOS)

August 15, 2022
Martha Karua

Kenya Decides: Odinga’s running mate hints at appealing election result

August 15, 2022
NNPP Osun state Excos

NNPP sacks chairperson in Osun

August 15, 2022
Suspected Taraba kidnap kingpin Hamisu Wadume

Court jails Taraba kidnap kingpin, Wadume, four others

August 15, 2022
RTEAN Logo

2023: RTEAN declares support for APC, Tinubu

August 15, 2022
Read All Comment

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2022 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • #PandoraPapers
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Opinion
  • The Membership Club
  • DONATE
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • PT Hausa
  • Dubawa NG
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Store

All content is Copyrighted © 2022 The Premium Times, Nigeria