Growing number of misinformation about COVID-19 drug: Listen to doctors and scientists

(Patria) – Amidst a sea of information, both verified and unverified, about the therapy for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, hydroxychloroquine is most often mentioned as a supposed effective drug against the new virus.

Leading American immunologist and member of the White House task force for combating the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has warned that there is no scientific evidence to support the use of hydroxychloroquine in the fight against the coronavirus.

Hydroxychloroquine is normally used against malaria, but it has been promoted in some communities, as well as by certain media and social networks – as an effective drug against COVID-19.

US President Donald Trump even advised Americans at a White House briefing on Saturday to try this drug, stating that they have 'nothing to lose'.

However, just a day later, Dr. Fauci reiterated his earlier claim that there is nothing to suggest that hydroxychloroquine has any effect against the coronavirus.

"Scientifically speaking, we cannot definitively say it is beneficial," Fauci told CBS, explaining that the data so far is at best 'suggestive', and that the drug has shown some effect in some cases, and in others it has been without any effect.

Dr. James Phillips, a professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University Hospital, claims that Americans would risk their lives by taking hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus, stating that 'we don't know enough to base medical recommendations on it'.

"It is a dangerous message for someone without a medical license to go and tell people to try (the drug). You have to listen to doctors, people who understand science, before you open a medicine cabinet," emphasizes Dr. Phillips.

Last month, a married couple suffering from coronavirus in Arizona died after they took chloroquine phosphate on their own, an additive used to clean fish tanks, which is an ingredient in hydroxychloroquine. They had heard about the 'coronavirus cure' through the media.

Scientific research into finding a therapy and vaccine for COVID-19 is continuing in several countries, coordinated by the World Health Organization.