Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health is using hydroxychloroquine as a treatment drug for patients that are receiving COVID-19 treatment at three health facilities. The drug is an antimalarial used to treat mild forms of malaria, but can also be used to treat lupus and arthritis. …
Read More »Coronavirus: three months of global upheaval
Paris, France | AFP | In the three months since China first came across a new coronavirus, the world has been plunged into turmoil. A pandemic has been declared, schools and shops from New York to New Delhi shuttered, half the global population is confined in some form, while governments have …
Read More »Medicine shortage looms over coronavirus-hit Europe
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | While the world waits for a coronavirus vaccine, medicines used to deal with the symptoms of the disease are increasingly in critically short supply in Europe, the worst-hit continent. From sedatives needed to intubate patients struggling to breathe to anti-malarial drugs heavily backed by US …
Read More »Thousands sign French call for chloroquine in virus fight
Paris, France | AFP | More than 215,000 people have signed a petition urging French officials to let more doctors prescribe the anti-malaria drug chloroquine for coronavirus patients, a controversial proposal that has divided health experts worldwide. Support for the treatment has gained ground as doctors try to keep the COVID-19 …
Read More »Use malaria drugs only for virus emergencies: EU agency
Paris, France | AFP | Anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine should only be used to treat COVID-19 in clinical trials or in case of “national emergency”, the European Medicine Agency warned Wednesday. Around the world, countries are expanding access to the two compounds, which are used to treat malaria and are known to have anti-viral …
Read More »Africans rush for chloroquine as virus tsunami looms
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Despite loud appeals for caution, Africans are rushing to embrace chloroquine, the venerable anti-malaria drug touted as a possible treatment for coronavirus. From hospitals in Senegal to pharmaceutical companies in South Africa and street sellers in Cameroon, chloroquine has fired hopes of a medicinal fix against …
Read More »US fast-tracking antimalarials to treat coronavirus: Trump
Washington, United States | AFP | The US is fast-tracking antimalarial drugs for use as a treatment against the new coronavirus, President Donald Trump said Thursday, following encouraging early results in France and China. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have not been given a formal green light in the US to fight the …
Read More »Coronavirus: Three drugs tried, cure far from being identified-Experts
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Scientists are considering using the discontinued malaria drug Chloroquine, HIV drug Lopinavir and the Ebola drug Remdesivir among the treatments for the coronavirus (COVID-19). Prof. Pontiano Kaleebu, a researcher and Executive Director of the Uganda Virus Research Center told journalists that while the effectiveness …
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