Re:Chloroquine, past and present
by Nav_Panel on Friday March 20, 2020 @01:32PM
(#22639483)
It's an antibiotic. Severe patients will be dealing with secondary (bacterial) infections, so it makes sense to use both. But on its own, I expect it would have little effect.
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It’s already commonly used as both treatment and profylactic (in healthy risk group patients) for viral pneumonia. Why it works for I think is still not entirely clear.
Being an antibiotic is also convenient because many times you would also get antibiotics to prevent a secondary infection from bacteria.
It’s not exactly a miracle cure (like an antibiotic is against a bacterial pneumonia), but doctors have few tools when it comes to viral pneumonia, so even something that helps a little is welcome.
Re:Chloroquine, past and present
by benjohnson on Friday March 20, 2020 @02:04PM
(#22639770)
As I understand it - it interferes with mRNA transcription. Given that COVID-19 is RNA that may be useful.