07/08/2020 - 10:18
- Clarín.com
- World
Jair Bolsonaro suffers from coronavirus. He announces it in a scheduled interview, breaking all kinds of restriction measures in a pandemic, and sponsors a treatment that "saved his life": hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin . He also talked about ivermectin . In his publicized announcement, on Tuesday, that he is sick, the President of Brazil provided imprecise data and unproven remedies for the treatment of Covid-19. What is the truth?
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Watch the specialHere is what is known so far about the Brazilian president's statements.
"Given the symptoms, the medical team decided to apply hydroxychloroquine," he said.
Indicated for cases of malaria and lupus, hydroxychloroquine was one of the first remedies to be considered as a possible treatment against the new coronavirus.
However, in early June, a clinical trial led by the University of Minnesota in the United States and Canada indicated that taking hydroxychloroquine was not effective against the virus.
On June 15, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoked authorization for the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19 in the country.
"Based on its ongoing analysis ... of emerging scientific data, the FDA has determined that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19."
On June 17, the WHO suspended the research it was conducting to evaluate the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine has no results "in a reduction in mortality of patients hospitalized for COVID-19," he said.
Azithromycin (plus hydroxychloroquine)
A journalist asked the Brazilian president if he was taking azithromycin in addition to hydroxychloroquine . The answer was affirmative.
Despite what Bolsonaro said, the combination of hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin is still not indicated by national and international health institutions.
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A document prepared in May by the Brazilian Association of Intensive Medicine, the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases and the Brazilian Society of Pulmonology and Tisiology indicates: "We suggest not using the combination of routine hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine and azithromycin in the treatment of COVID-19 "
Ivermectin
During the conference, Bolsonaro also mentioned ivermectin , widely publicized on social media, as another possible treatment for COVID-19. "I know there is no scientific evidence yet, but the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine, as well as ivermectin, among others, has appeared and many people have said that after administering these medications, they began to feel very good."
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The efficacy of ivermectin in the treatment of COVID-19 has not yet been demonstrated. So far, it has been used for parasitic infections in humans and animals, but with a different formula.
On June 22, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) published a study on the recommendation of this drug. According to the publication, although ivermectin was successfully used "in vitro in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 in experimentally infected cells", there has been no formal review.
PAHO concluded that the ivermectin studies present "a high risk of bias, little certainty of evidence, and that the existing evidence is insufficient to conclude its benefits and harms."
The WHO also opted to remove ivermectin from sponsored studies and continues with the indication that there is still no medicine to cure, prevent or treat COVID-19.
The FDA also does not recommend this drug: "While there are approved uses for ivermectin in people and animals, it has not been licensed for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19," he says.
"The virus does best in cold climates"
When asked about the isolation measures widely adopted in the country, Bolsonaro said that he would not have acted in this way since Brazil has different climates and that the new coronavirus "works better in colder climates."
However, it is not yet known whether temperature influences the spread of COVID-19, as explained by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Similarly, the WHO reports on its website that it is possible to contract the new coronavirus "regardless of how sunny or hot the weather is."
"Countries with hot climates have reported cases of COVID-19," he says.
As of July 7, Brazil had registered more than 1.6 million confirmed cases of the disease and more than 66,000 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.
Bolsonaro also said that in the case of people under 40 and without previous illnesses, "the possibility is close to zero of having greater consequences" due to the spread of COVID-19.
Although the case fatality among the youngest is very low, they can also contract the disease and die. It was the case of Julie A., 16 years old and without previous health problems. According to her mother, what started as a cough quickly turned into respiratory failure. This caused the young woman to have to intubate and finally died.
In Rio de Janeiro, a minor under 12 years of age also died of COVID-19. The same thing happened to a 16-year-old in Indianapolis, United States, and to a 13-year-old in London.
AFP