As scientists around the world race to find a cure, treatment or vaccine for Covid-19, the US president Donald Trump revealed that he had been doing his bit of medical experimentation this week.
At a press conference last night the President revealed that he had been taking the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine every day for a week and a half, to ward off the virus. Trump said that ‘a lot of good things had come out about’ the drug, that frontline workers were using it, and that there was no harm in taking it, even if it didn’t stop the disease.
Hydroxychloroquine has been touted as a potential treatment for Covid-19 after French studies seemed to show that it inhibited the infection of cells. Subsequent studies though have suggested that the drug may cause heart failure, and lead to a higher risk of death when used to treat Covid-19.
Tump may want to have a word with his own Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well, which currently ‘cautions against’ the use of hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19 outside of hospital settings, due to ‘heart rhythm’ problems.
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