RE: First of all, they are using it too late.
The study was designed to treat patients with already badly damaged lungs.
That was NOT what Hydroxychloroqine was intended for.
[ Friday, April 10, 2020 7:12 PM ] Nathaniel Lim: Again, all studies show that:
1. It has to be applied as soon as: a) The patient is CoVid-19 positive; and b) shows fever, coughing and/or breathing problems.
2. Do not wait till the lungs are so compromised and damaged by pneumonia and the patient needs a respirator.
If you do the above, all experience shows that the patient gets better with 6 days.
This significantly eases the burden of hospitals and healthcare workers and also reduces the death rate.
Also, Zinc is a major component of the treatment.
What many doctors observe is that the virus uses the cell as a platform to replicate. Because this invader is new, the immune system overreacts (especially true for mature individuals like the elderly) and creates what is known as a Cytokine storm, sort of like a soldier shooting at everything in sight, not differentiating between the good and bad guys, thus, killing the good as well. This causes ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome), where fluid collects in the lungs and air sacs depriving oxygen.
Hydroxychloroquine acts as an ionophore where Zinc can work to prevent the virus from replicating. Hydroxychloroquine also acts to modulate autoimmune response ( much like it does lupus ), so that the immune system’s cytokine storm calms down giving the body the chance to fight off the invader without killing its own healthy lung cells.
Azithromycin is used to fight possible bacterial infection.
These 3: HCQ + AZITHROMYCIN + ZINC, given at the right doses EARLY before the disease has the chance to progress to a more severe state is what accounts for most of the success.
This particular French study was not designed to replicate the successful cases.
"Most of the patients included in this study had an inflammatory syndrome defined by C-reactive-protein higher than 40 mg/l, which suggests that a cytokine storm syndrome had already begun."
There are conjectures by doctors that this is not really a respiratory disease. That it attacks the red blood cell ability to transport oxygen, causing something similar to high altitude hypoxia.
Not following your prescribed treatment (or your prescribed outcomes...) does not make it a bad study. We need to know what hydroxychloroquine does when given all on its own, too. It does have significant, known side effects. Is there a subset of patients who will be harmed or killed by giving it to them?