What is chloroquine? Thanks for asking!

Chloroquine is a prescription drug which has been used for many decades to treat malaria. It’s included on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines, which means it should be kept widely available at an affordable price for all. 

Due to its antiviral properties, it has been getting a lot of attention from medical researchers as a potential treatment for Covid-19 patients.

Chloroquine was discovered in the 1930s and has been widely used to treat malaria since 1945. Malaria is a disease which humans pick up from mosquito bites in tropical regions of the world. mosquito To combat malarial parasites, the drug interferes with their essential processes while they are inside red blood cells.

Scientists discovered that a derivative of chloroquine, known as hydroxychloroquine, could be used to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Its antiviral effects can increase the pH inside cells, preventing a virus from replicating.

So could hydroxychloroquine help us in the fight against the coronavirus?

The problem is that the antiviral effect is still somewhat theoretical. It’s rarely been confirmed outside of in vitro experiments. That’s because chloroquine is toxic in very small doses and can cause serious side effects. An overdose could potentially lead to fatal heart problems. When looked at for potential use against chikungunya, dengue fever, Ebola and the flu, all tests were unsuccessful.

Since the start of the current outbreak, some initial studies suggested that chloroquine could be effective in curing coronavirus sufferers. In early March, researchers at the University of Beijing were able to demonstrate its effectiveness through an in vitro trial.

And the most publicised trial was in Marseille, France. Among those who received chloroquine, 75% no longer had the virus six days later.

So why aren’t we doing everything we can to treat coronavirus patients with chloroquine? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions !

If you want to know what is chloroquine in french : https://podcasts.ba-ba-bam.com/maintenant-vous-savez/202003300500-quest-ce-que-la-chloroquine.html

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